China's 1st Female Astronaut Heads to Space

When China's fourth human spaceflight blasts off on June 16, it will mark more than the country's latest crewed space mission. The Shenzhou 9 space docking mission will launch China's first woman astronaut into orbit and ferry the first crew to a space station prototype.

Liu Yang, age 34, is China’s first female astronaut. She and two colleagues form the crew of the Shenzhou 9 mission, with liftoff set for 6:37 p.m. local time (6:37 a.m. EDT or 1037 GMT) on June 16, 2012.

The astronauts will travel to the Tiangong 1 space laboratory, which has orbited the Earth since Sept. 29, 2011. Pilot Liu Wang, 43, will practice both manual and automatic docking maneuvers. The crew will inhabit the space laboratory module for several days to conduct experiments and test equipment. The mission’s commander, Jing Haipeng, 46, flew in space once before on the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008.

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012
0935 GMT (5:35 a.m. EDT)
All three Shenzhou 9 crew members are now inside the Tiangong 1 module, which is reported to be in good health. The astronauts have activated an air sampling system and tested communications systems ahead of their 10-day stay aboard the spacecraft.

The astronauts will back away in the Shenzhou 9 capsule at some point during the mission, then approach Tiangong 1 module again for a manual docking. Liu Wang will be at the controls of the spacecraft for that maneuver.

Shenzhou 9's mission is due to last 13 days from launch until landing.

Chinese astronauts open door on orbiting research lab

Flying on autopilot with three astronauts on-board, China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft glided to a smooth docking with the Tiangong 1 space lab Monday,
forming a small-scale space station 200 miles above Earth.

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Credit: CCTV/Spaceflight Now