BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) — China’s Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship successfully docked with the Tiangong space station at 2:45 a.m. (Beijing Time) Monday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The spaceship made a fast, automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of Tiangong’s core module Tianhe. The whole docking process took approximately 3.5 hours, said the CMSA.
The astronaut trio aboard the spaceship will then enter the Tianhe module. Meanwhile, the Shenzhou-21 crew members in the space station are ready to receive the new crew members.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sunday. ■