China’s largest carrier rocket Long March-5 was transported to launch site in South China’s Hainan Province on Friday morning for its first flight mission scheduled for November.
Earth and Moon, seen from China’s Chang'e 5-T1 space probe. (NASA)
This view of the Tiangong 2 and Shenzhou 11 docked complex was recorded Sunday and downlinked to Earth on Tuesday by the Banxing 2 micro-satellite.
Photo taken on Oct. 19, 2016 shows the screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showing the two Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng (L) and Chen Dong in the space lab Tiangong-2. The two astronauts onboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft entered the space lab Tiangong-2 Wednesday morning. (Xinhua/Ju Zhenhua)
At approximately 4:30 am (BJT), the Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-11 lifted off from from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert. In two day it will rendezvous with the Tiangong-2 spacelab.
Shenzhou-11 rollout photos
great launch for Shenzhou-11 this evening (2016-10-17 local time) to the Tiangong-2 space station - screencaps from CCTV footage
This is a mosaic of six images captured by the Yutu rover on January 13, 2014, after it had driven southwest of the lander to visit a large block of impact ejecta that the team named Long Yan (Pyramid Rock).
Chinese officials have announced that this morning’s launch of the Tiangong-2 space station was successful. For more on this mission, read Andrew Jones’ coverage:
China will take another step on its long march to a permanent orbital outpost with the launch of the Tiangong-2 orbital module from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The launch, to be conducted by a Long March 2F – is set to take place at XX:XXUTC from the 921 Launch Pad of the LC43 Launch Complex. The new orbital outpost will enable the crews to remain in orbit for 30-day missions.
China successfully launched its new generation of carrier rockets, the Long March 7, at 8 PM (local time) on Saturday from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, the country’s newest spaceport in the southern island province of Hainan. Take a look at the exclusive video of the launching process as the rocket blasted into the sky leaving a vast trail of fumes behind it.
The rocket’s first test flight will carry a scaled-down version of a new human spaceflight reentry capsule.
China’s current human-carrying craft, Shenzhou, is similar to the Russian Soyuz. According to China Space Report, a paper published in the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics described two versions of a gumdrop-shaped successor vehicle capable of carrying up to six astronauts to both Earth orbit and deep space destinations.
current and future human spacecraft
The Chang'e 3 lander captured the four images for this mosaic of the Yutu rover driving southward on December 23, 2013. Yutu’s right solar panel is angled downward to catch the glancing sunlight at a better angle.
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