October 26, 2023

On the momentous occasion of the 20th anniversary of China's first manned spaceflight of the Shenzhou-5, China Space Station, also known as Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace", witnessed another historic moment in China's manned space history as six taikonauts from two Shenzhou spaceflight mission crews had their space reunion on Thursday afternoon, some 6.5 hours after the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft's successful lift-off on Thursday morning at around 11:14 am.

According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft successfully conducts rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe space station core module at the front port at 5:46 pm Thursday.

The Shenzhou-16 crew opened the door and welcomed the incoming Shenzhou-17 fellow taikonauts by 7:34 pm. The six then took a group picture to mark the historic reunion moment, according to the CMSA.

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