June 17, 2021

As the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft crew successfully moved into the Tianhe space core module at 6:48 pm Thursday, following the epic rendezvous and docking with the orbiting destination in a rapid and automated fashion, Chinese people have entered its own space station for the first time in history. 

It was a much shorter and more enjoyable ride for Chinese veteran astronaut Nie Haisheng when he embarked on his third space trip on Thursday morning. The Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft, in which Nie and his two fellow crew members were traveling, pulled off the country's first-ever automated rapid rendezvous and docking for a manned spacecraft with the orbiting Tianhe space station core module at 3:54 pm on Thursday, just 6.5 hours after the former was launched Thursday morning on the Long March-2F Y12 carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu Province, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Thursday.

As some may wonder why it took a few hours to enter the space station's core cabin after docking, Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert, told the Global Times that after Shenzhou-12's docking with the core cabin, a series of tests were conducted by the astronauts, including sealing and locking tests, leak detection, pressure balance, and air purification. 

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https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226392.shtml