14 June 2021
On 12 June, mission planers decided that Zhurong will continue moving southward to explore the Red Planet. It is hoped that Zhurong might find some interesting geographical features. All 6 science payloads - including the multi-spectral camera, ground-penetrating radar and meteorological sensor - have started operation. Because of favourable weather in the landing area, Zhurong can carry out its tasks at a faster pace than predicted.
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14 June 2021
In the 37th Episode of Dongfang Hour China, Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville talk about the 6 most important topics of the previous week: 1) iSpace unveils details on the Hyperbola-3; 2) Emergence of launch company Dongfang Space (“Ospace”); 3) Additional pictures from Tianwen-1; 4) Shenzhen publishes Support for Satellite Manufacturing and CZ-2D Launch; 5) CAS Xi’an to Launch Xiamen-1 Satellite; 6) China Announces a MEO Broadband Constellation
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Link to related newsletter

16 June 2021
Taikonauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo are going to fly the Shenzhou 12 human spaceflight mission. Nie, the most experienced among the three, was in the Shenzhou 6 mission in 2005 and the Shenzhou 10 mission in 2013. It will be Liu's 2nd spaceflight, as he once participated in the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008, which featured a landmark spacewalk. Tang will be a new comer to space. He became a member of the 2nd batch of taikonauts in 2010. Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu are the backup crew. The SZ-12 mission is expected to launch on 17 June at 9:22 BJT (01:22 UTC) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.
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Replay of the press conference with crew announcement

17 June 2021
On 17 June, at 9:22 BJT (01:22 UTC) Shenzhou 12 manned mission launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. Taikonauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo are the crew. The SZ-12 spaceship is expected to conduct a fast autonomous rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit space station core module Tianhe, forming a complex with Tianhe and the cargo craft Tianzhou-2.
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Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship docks with space station module
SZ-12 successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on 17 June. After launch and entering the orbit, the spaceship completed orbital status setting and conducted a fast autonomous rendezvous and docking with the front docking port of Tianhe at 15:54 BJT.
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