China launches seventh crewed space mission since 2003
BEIJING, June 17 (Reuters) - China sent three astronauts into low-Earth orbit on Thursday as part of an ambitious plan to build a space station by the end of next year. The Shenzhou-12 mission was helmed by veteran astronaut Nie Haisheng, 56, who now holds the record of being the oldest Chinese national in space. China's first crewed mission in five years and seventh since 2003 also featured the first automated rendezvous and docking of a Chinese spacecraft with an orbiting module. Shenzhou-12 is the first of four crewed missions needed to complete the construction of China's independently-developed space station by the end of 2022. It will be similar in size to the decommissioned Mir built by the former Soviet Union in the 1980s, and about a fifth the size of the International Space Station. Mission Year Crew Gender Shenzhou-5 2003 Yang Liwei Male Shenzhou-6 2005 Fei Junlong Male Nie Haisheng Male Shenzhou-7 2008 Zhai Zhigang Male Liu Boming Male Jing Haipeng Male Shenzhou-9 2012 Jing Haipeng Male Liu Wang Male Liu Yang Female Shenzhou-10 2013 Nie Haisheng Male Zhang Xiaoguang Male Wang Yaping Female Shenzhou-11 2016 Jing Haipeng Male Chen Dong Male Shenzhou-12 2021 Nie Haisheng Male Liu Boming Male Tang Hongbo Male (Reporting by Ryan Woo and Liangping Gao; Editing by Tom Hogue)
