Chinese Astronauts Enter Space Station For Record Six-Month Stay

Three Chinese Astronauts, including a woman, on board the Shenzhou-13, have entered the space station core module Tianhe on Saturday, the country's space agency said, hours after the spaceship was successfully launched for a record six-month mission.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Beijing, October 16

The three astronauts - Zhai Zhigang, 55; Wang Yaping, 41; and Ye Guangfu, 41 fully docked with the under-construction space station, which is composed of the core module Tianhe and the cargo crafts Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3. They will stay in the space station for six months to complete its construction - the longest manned mission in China's history. Wangis the first success Chinese woman astronaut to visit China's space station.

The spaceship, launched on early Saturday morning, completed orbital status and conducted a fast-automated rendezvous and docking with Tianhe at 6:56 am (Beijing Time), forming a complex together with the cargo crafts Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3.

The whole process took approximately 6.5 hours, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said. The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Gobi Desert. Crew commander Zhai said the length of the mission, which is twice as long as the previous mission, was the biggest challenge for the astronauts.