Beijing – China launched its crewed Shenzhou-23 spacecraft and eased it into a successful docking with a space station early Monday as part of Beijing’s ambitions to send humans to the moon by 2030, state media said.
During this mission, a Chinese astronaut is scheduled to spend a full year in orbit on the Tiangong space station, a crucial first in the Chinese lunar landing program.
The Long March 2-F rocket blasted off in a cloud of flames and smoke on time at 11:08 p.m. Sunday night from the Jiuquan launch center in China’s northwestern Gobi Desert, video from state broadcaster CCTV showed.
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