China’s Manned Space Mission: Shenzhou-11 Docks With Tiangong-2 Space Lab
Shenzhou-11 — a Chinese spacecraft carrying two astronauts — successfully docked with the uncrewed Tiangong-2 space lab on Tuesday. The astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, have entered the space lab, where they would spend the next 30 days conducting experiments and assessing the complex’s habitability.
The docking, broadcast live by state television, took place roughly 244 miles above Earth, after which the Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, had to maneuver through a narrow passage less than a meter wide to enter the space lab.