Chinese astronauts enter space station following docking

Source: Phys.org

Chinese astronauts enter space station following docking

October 19, 2016

A pair of Chinese astronauts entered the country's orbiting space station for a month-long stay early Wednesday, as China's sixth and longest crewed mission gets underway in earnest.

The Shenzhou 11 spacecraft that blasted off Monday morning docked with the Tiangong 2 station using an automated maneuver worked out during missions to an earlier experimental station.

Having changed from his space suit into blue overalls, veteran mission commander Jing Haipeng opened the hatch and entered the station shortly after 6 a.m. Beijing time (2200 GMT), followed by astronaut Chen Dong, who is making his first journey into space, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The two astronauts extended greetings to all the people of the nation in the space lab, and checked the status of the space complex," Xinhua said.

The space station launched Sept. 15 is orbiting about 393 kilometers (244 miles) above the earth.

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[font size=1]In this image taken off the screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 and released by Xinhua News Agency, two Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng, left and Chen Dong salute in the space lab Tiangong 2. China says a pair of astronauts aboard have entered the country's orbiting space station for a month-long stay. Chinese character on bottom left reads "Inside Tiangong." (Ju Zhenhua/Xinhua via AP)[/font]