Three Chinese astronauts aboard the country’s space station, currently under construction, successfully entered the lab module in orbit for the first time on Monday, a day after the space laboratory was launched, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
China launched its space laboratory called Wentian on Sunday, sending the country’s largest-ever spacecraft into Earth’s orbit to become part of the space station named Tiangong which is currently under construction.
The Wentian module docked with the front port of the space station in the early hours of Monday after it entered the planned orbit.
It is the first time that China’s two 20-tonne-level spacecraft conducted rendezvous and docking in orbit, and also the first time that space rendezvous and docking were carried out during the astronauts’ in-orbit stay in the space station, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) told official media.
After the docking, the three astronauts who were building the space station entered the lab, Xinhua news agency reported. It was the first time the Chinese astronauts had entered the lab module in orbit. The astronauts will conduct in-orbit work such as the attitude control of the combination of the space station, small mechanical arm crawling and the test of the complex of big and small arms. They will also use the airlock cabin and the small mechanical arm of Wentian to carry out extravehicular activities, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.