WatanDost
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Shenzhou-9: China to make manned space flight mid-June
China plans to send three astronauts into space aboard its Shenzhou-9 spacecraft this month.
News DeskJune 9, 2012 07:04
[HI]China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft will make a manned flight this month, the country's space agency has announced.
[/HI][HI]According to Xinhua, the spacecraft and its carrier rocket have already been moved to a launch pad at the Jiuquan space center in northwest China.
It is expected to take off "sometime in mid-June," a space agency official told the state news agency.
[/HI]
[HI]Three astronauts will be aboard. The crew might include female astronauts, said Niu Hongguang, deputy commander of China's manned space program.
[/HI][HI]If so, they would be the first Chinese women to go into space, according to Agence France Presse.
[/HI]The astronauts will dock Shenzhou-9 manually with China's orbiting Tiangong-1 space laboratory, where two of them will board and conduct experiments.
It will be the first time a manned spacecraft has docked with Tiangong-1, which has been in orbit around earth since Sept. 2011. China hopes the space lab will help it one day develop its own space station.
[HI]This month's flight will be China's fourth manned launch since it became the third country to send a man into space in 2003, the BBC said.
[/HI]
China plans to send three astronauts into space aboard its Shenzhou-9 spacecraft this month.
News DeskJune 9, 2012 07:04
[HI]China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft will make a manned flight this month, the country's space agency has announced.
[/HI][HI]According to Xinhua, the spacecraft and its carrier rocket have already been moved to a launch pad at the Jiuquan space center in northwest China.
It is expected to take off "sometime in mid-June," a space agency official told the state news agency.
[/HI]
[HI]Three astronauts will be aboard. The crew might include female astronauts, said Niu Hongguang, deputy commander of China's manned space program.
[/HI][HI]If so, they would be the first Chinese women to go into space, according to Agence France Presse.
[/HI]The astronauts will dock Shenzhou-9 manually with China's orbiting Tiangong-1 space laboratory, where two of them will board and conduct experiments.
It will be the first time a manned spacecraft has docked with Tiangong-1, which has been in orbit around earth since Sept. 2011. China hopes the space lab will help it one day develop its own space station.
[HI]This month's flight will be China's fourth manned launch since it became the third country to send a man into space in 2003, the BBC said.
[/HI]
