Shenzhou-17 spacecraft successfully docked with Tiangong space station

According to Xinhua News Agency, the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) announced that the country's Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft successfully docked with the Tiangong Space Station on October 26.

CMSA said the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft, launched by a Long March 2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on the same morning, docked with the Tianhe Central Module of the Tiangong Space Station at 5:46 p.m. Beijing time (4:46 p.m. Vietnam time).

The whole process took about 6 hours and 30 minutes.

The Shenzhou-17 spacecraft carried three Chinese astronauts to the Tiangong Space Station, carrying out a six-month mission there.

The Shenzhou-17 crew, consisting of astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, is the youngest group with an average age (38 years old) deployed since China began building its first space station.

The crew will perform a number of tasks such as practical in-orbit experiments on space science and application payloads, installation of extravehicular payloads, maintenance and repair of the space station, evaluation of the functional performance of the assembly process, and accumulation of benefits of the space station.

After completing the mission, the Shenzhou-17 crew is expected to return to Earth in April 2024.

Shenzhou-17 was the 30th manned space mission in China's manned space program and the program's 12th manned mission.