18 June 2021
Almost 30 grams of Nanjing orchid seeds were carried into space for breeding tests, accompanying the Shenzhou 12 mission, which was launched on 17 June. The seeds will stay in space for 3 months. A red orchid variety, Hongcao, features red buds and seedlings, a popular variant from Nanjing county of Fujian province. It was selected and bred by the provincial testing centre for forestry science and technology, which is affiliated with the Fujian Bureau of Forestry.
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17 June 2021
The taikonauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo entered the Tianhe core module of the CSS on 17 June at 18:48 BJT.
The SZ-12 crew space craft completed a fast-track automated rendezvous and docking with the orbiting Tianhe module. The crew is now preparing their daily routine in space.
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Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng congratulates members of SZ-12 mission
18 June 2021
China launched a new group of remote-sensing satellites on board the CZ-2C from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre on 18 June.
Take-off was at 14:30 BJT. This is the 9th group belonging to the Yaogan 30 family. Also aboard was Tianqi 14, a satellite belonging to the Tianqi constellation.
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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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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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