Chinese astronauts begin six-month mission aboard permanent space station

Chinese astronauts began their six-month mission today aboard China s first permanent space station, after successfully docking aboard their spacecraft.

The astronauts, two men and a woman were seen floating around the module before speaking live on streaming video.

The new crew includes Wang Yaping, 41, who is the first Chinese woman to board a space station in Beijing, and is expected to become Chinas first female spacewalker.

We ll together co-operate with each other, carefully conduct maneuvers and try to accomplish all tasks successfully in this round of exploration of the universe, Wang said in the video.

The space shuttle Shenzhou - 13 spacecraft was docked on a Long March - 2 F rocket at 12: 23 a.m. Saturday and launched with Tianhe core module of the space station at 6: 56 a.m. The three astronauts entered the station's core module at about 10 a.m. the China Manned Space Agency said.

They are the second team to launch Tiangong space station in China, which was launched last April. The first crew stayed three months.

The new crew includes two veterans of the space travel — Wang, 55, and Zhai Zhigang. The first member, Ye Guangfu, 41, is sending his third space trip.

The mission launch was seen off in a military band and supporters singing Ode to the Motherland, underscoring national pride in the space program, which has advanced rapidly in recent years.

The crew will conduct three spacewalks to install equipment in preparation for expanding the station, assess living conditions in the Tianhe module and conduct experiments in space medicine and other areas.

If complete, with the addition of two more sections – named Mengtian and Wentian — the station will weigh about 66 tons, much smaller than the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 450 tonnes.

Two more Chinese modules are expected to be launched before the end of next year during the stay of the yet-to - be named Shenzhou - 14 crew.

China s Foreign Ministry today renewed its commitment to cooperation with other nations in peaceful use of space.

Speakingperson Zhao Lijian said sending humans into space was a common cause for mankind. China will continue to develop the depth and breadth of international cooperation and exchanges in crewed spaceflight and make positive contributions to the exploration of the mysteries of the universe, he said.

China was excluded from the International Space Station mainly because of U.S. objections over the Chinese program's secretive nature and close military ties, prompting it to launch two experimental modules before starting on the permanent station.

U.S. law requires congressional approval for contact between the American and Chinese space programs, but China is cooperating with other countries like France, Sweden, Russia and Italy about space experts. Chinese officials said they will be back to hosting astronauts from other countries aboard the space station once it becomes fully functional.

China has launched seven crewed missions with a total of 14 astronauts aboard — two have flown twice since 2003 - when it became only the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to use a person in space on its own.

China has also expanded its work on Earth exploration, including landing a rover on the far side of the moon and returning lunar rocks to Lunar Resources for the first time since the 1970 s.

Then China set up the Tianwen - 1 space probe on Mars, whose accompanying Zhurong rover has been exploring for evidence of life on the red planet.

Other Chinese space programs call for collecting soil from an asteroid and bringing back additional lunar samples. China has also expressed an aspiration to land people on the moon and possibly create a scientific base there, though no timeline has been proposed for such projects. A highly secretive space plane is also under development.