A new frontier for China

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The orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module received its first tenants on Monday, after a successful docking with the manned Shenzhou IX spacecraft.

The docking, by automated procedure, was completed at 2:14 pm.

Three astronauts, including China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, waited inside the Shenzhou IX spacecraft's re-entry capsule while the pressures inside the vessels were equalized. Once it was confirmed that it was safe to open the hatches, mission commander Jing Haipeng entered Tiangong-1 at 5:07 pm.

Grabbing handles on one side of the capsule which was colored khaki to signal "ground", he quickly made his way into the space lab module.

Upon entry, he adjusted to the weightlessness and waved to a monitoring camera.

The slightly awkward maneuver drew sympathetic laughter from the scientists and engineers watching at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and now deputy director of the manned space engineering office, said that astronauts usually need some time to learn how to control their body posture in a zero-gravity environment.

Tiangong-1 is also much larger than the Shenzhou IX spacecraft and requires some getting used to.

"I envy them being able to experience weightlessness in such a spacious module," he said.

Following Jing, astronauts Liu Wang and Liu Yang joined him in Tiangong-1. "We have entered the target module. Feeling good," Jing reported.

The three, still not familiar with the technique of "standing" and working in weightlessness, gathered in front of a camera and waved to a nationwide audience who watched the historic moment through a live TV broadcast.

The astronauts will conduct a number of scientific experiments and perform the country's first manual space docking in six days, Zhou Jianping, chief engineer of the manned space program, said on Monday.

Questions:

1. What is the name of the manned spacecraft?

2. How many astronauts are onboard?

3. What time was docking completed?

Answers:

1. Shenzhou IX.

2. 3.

3. 2: 14 pm.

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.