China launched its most ambitious space mission yet yesterday, carrying its first female astronaut and two male colleagues in an attempt to dock with an orbiting module and work on board for more than a week.
The Shenzhou 9 capsule lifted off as scheduled at 6.37pm (1037GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on the edge of the Gobi Desert. All systems functioned normally and, just over 10 minutes later, it opened its solar panels and entered orbit.
The launch was declared a success by space programme chief Chang Wanquan, a People's Liberation Army general who sits on the ruling Communist Party's powerful central military commission - underscoring the programme's close military ties.
Female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, and two male crew members - mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45, and newcomer Liu Wang, 43 - are to dock the spacecraft with a prototype space lab launched last year in a key step towards building a permanent space station.
An unmanned Air Force space plane landed early yesterday at a California military base, capping a 15-month clandestine mission. The spacecraft, which was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in March 2011, conducted in-orbit experiments during the mission, officials said.
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