Beijing (EFE).- The Chinese Shenzhou-16 spacecraft, with three astronauts on board, successfully docked with the Tiangong space station on Tuesday, according to China’s Manned Missions Space Agency.
Shenzhou-16 reached its destination at 4:29 p.m. local time (0829 GMT), and carried out rapid automated docking with the space station, after a journey that lasted approximately six and a half hours.
The trio of passengers aboard the spacecraft will enter the Tianhe module, where the three astronauts from the Shenzhou-15 mission are prepared for their arrival.
The launch of the Shenzhou-16 was carried out from the base of Jiuquan (north), located in a desert area, at 09:31 local time (01:31 GMT).
A Long March 2F rocket propelled Shenzhou-16 into space, whose crew, who will spend approximately five months on Tiangong, is made up of a veteran with four missions experience, Jing Haipeng, and two rookies, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, the first Chinese astronaut not to be a member of the People’s Liberation Army (Chinese Army).
The three “taikonauts” (as Chinese cosmonauts are known) will be the first crew members of the Tiangong during what will be its application and development phase.
Shenzhou-16 is the seventh ship to visit Tiangong
The Shenzhou-16 is the seventh ship that visits the Tiangong, in which the crew of the Shenzhou-15 are already waiting for the new tenants of the facilities to hand them over after living with them for the next few days, a routine that will be the tonic during the following missions.
Tiangong, which will operate for about ten years, is likely to become the world’s only space station by 2024 if the International Space Station, an initiative led by the United States and to which China has banned access due to military ties from his space program, he retires that year as scheduled.
China has invested heavily in its space program and has managed to land the Chang’e 4 probe on the far side of the Moon -the first time it has been achieved- and reach Mars for the first time, becoming the third country -after the United States and the extinct Soviet Union – in “martizar”.