Shenzhou-8 Returns after Docking Mission
UPDATED: 2011-11-18
BEIJING, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 landed in north China Thursday evening, after completing the country's first-ever space docking mission.
The re-entry module of the spacecraft parachuted down at a landing site in Siziwang Banner (county) in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at around 7:30 p.m., marking the end of the 49-day space docking mission.
Launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Nov. 1, the Shenzhou-8 first rendezvoused and docked with the space lab module Tiangong-1 two days later.
The two joint vessels orbited Earth for 12 days and conducted another docking after a brief disengagement on Nov. 14.
The Tiangong-1, which blasted off from the Jiuquan launch center on Sept. 29, will remain in orbit to await future docking attempts with the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in 2012.
At least one of the two docking missions will take astronauts into space, according to Wu Ping, spokeswoman of China's manned space program.
Source: Xinhua
The re-entry module of the spacecraft parachuted down at a landing site in Siziwang Banner (county) in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at around 7:30 p.m., marking the end of the 49-day space docking mission.
Launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Nov. 1, the Shenzhou-8 first rendezvoused and docked with the space lab module Tiangong-1 two days later.
The two joint vessels orbited Earth for 12 days and conducted another docking after a brief disengagement on Nov. 14.
The Tiangong-1, which blasted off from the Jiuquan launch center on Sept. 29, will remain in orbit to await future docking attempts with the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in 2012.
At least one of the two docking missions will take astronauts into space, according to Wu Ping, spokeswoman of China's manned space program.
Source: Xinhua