This is the fourth crewed mission for China's Shenzhou program which lasted 12 days. Being the first crewed spacecraft to visit the Tiangong-1 space station, it brought up the astronauts Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and the first Chinese female astronaut Lie Yang. They docked automatically to the station on 18 June. During their stay in the station, astronauts conducted various scientific and technological experiments, and performed manual re-docking on 24 June. Shenzhou 9 undocked on 29 June and landed safely back on Earth the same day.
The Long March 2F is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch the crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a human-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
Shenzhou 9 was the second spacecraft and first crewed spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong 1 space station, which took place on 18 June.
Shenzhou DetailsThe China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.
INFO WIKINew high resolution Earth observation satellite for the Jilin-1 commercial Earth observation satellites constellation.
A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Payload consists of a single SAR Earth-imaging Acadia satellite, a new generation satellite designed, manufactured, and operated by Capella Space.
Chinese reconnaissance satellites.
A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Soyuz MS-24 carried two cosmonauts and one astronaut to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in K…
Third flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying a payload for the US Department of Defense.
A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Classified space situational awareness (SSA) payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
3 Chinese reconnaissance satellites of unknown purposes, officially reported as for "Electromagnetic environment probing" purposes.