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| China's Shenzhou 11 docks at Tiangong 2 space station | China's Shenzhou 11 docks at Tiangong 2 space station |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Two Chinese astronauts have arrived at the Tiangong 2 space laboratory, in a mission aimed at developing China's capabilities as a space power. | |
| The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft blasted off from northern China on Monday, and docked with Tiangong 2 at 03:24 Beijing time (19:24 GMT Tuesday). | The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft blasted off from northern China on Monday, and docked with Tiangong 2 at 03:24 Beijing time (19:24 GMT Tuesday). |
| Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will be spending the next 30 days in space conducting experiments. | Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will be spending the next 30 days in space conducting experiments. |
| It marks the longest space mission by Chinese astronauts. | It marks the longest space mission by Chinese astronauts. |
| The docking took place 393km (244 miles) above Earth and the remotely controlled procedure lasted about two hours, according to state media. | |
| State television on Wednesday morning carried live video of the docking and arrival of the astronauts, which saw them floating through a narrow 1m-long, 80cm-wide passageway into the lab. | |
| CCTV quoted Liu Ning, an official with China's main space programme contractor, as saying: "The door of Tiangong is a little bit troublesome... The astronaut needs to go through it horizontally and then raise (his) head to open the door." | |
| China is the third country, after the United States and Russia, to carry out its own crewed missions. The Shenzhou-11 is its sixth. | China is the third country, after the United States and Russia, to carry out its own crewed missions. The Shenzhou-11 is its sixth. |
| It plans to create its own permanent space station by 2022 following its exclusion from the International Space Station. It will expand Tiangong 2 over the next few years by sending up additional modules. | |
| China has poured significant funding and efforts into its space programme, and plans to launch at least 20 space missions this year. |