Chinese Astronaut Successfully Boards Own Space Station Module

Shenzhou 12 Successfully Docks with Tianhe
Major Promotion Marking the 100th Anniversary of the Communist Party

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] It has been reported that three astronauts sent to China's self-developed space station module 'Tianhe' successfully boarded the interior of Tianhe after a flight of just over six hours. They plan to stay in Tianhe for the next three months to carry out space station construction work and other tasks. The Chinese government is reportedly promoting this news extensively to boost patriotism in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on the 1st of next month.

According to local media including the Chinese state-run Global Times on the 18th, Shenzhou 12, which was launched from the Jiuquan base in Gansu Province the previous day, successfully docked with Tianhe after a flight of 6 hours and 32 minutes. All three astronauts aboard Shenzhou 12?Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo?successfully boarded Tianhe. They are scheduled to stay in Tianhe for three months to carry out space station construction, repairs, scientific experiments, and then return to Earth.

The Global Times particularly praised the flight record of Shenzhou 12 as faster than that of the United States. The Global Times stated, "In April, the Crew Dragon capsule of the US company SpaceX took 23 hours to dock with the International Space Station (ISS), but Shenzhou 12 succeeded in docking with Tianhe four times faster," emphasizing that "this demonstrates China's possession of space tracking and highly advanced automation technology."

Until now, the Chinese government, which has not been open about domestic rocket launches, is promoting this launch extensively as an event coinciding with the 100th anniversary founding ceremony of the Chinese Communist Party to be held on the 1st of next month. China’s state-run CCTV broadcast the launch and docking scenes live and posted videos on social networking services (SNS), which reportedly garnered hundreds of millions of views.

The Chinese government also held a grand send-off ceremony for the launch the previous day. Tens of thousands of attendees visited the ceremony, waving Chinese flags and singing the song "Without the Communist Party, there would be no New China." Xinhua News Agency self-praised the event as "an occasion that shows that China's national strength growth and spirit of independence over the past decades have been the foundation of the development of China's space program."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.