Three Chinese astronauts have blasted off from Earth for a rendezvous with their country’s brand new space station. The trio were launched into space early Thursday morning from a base in Northwest China in a spacecraft that docked with the still-under-construction Tianhe (Heavenly Harmony) space station six hours later. The Washington Post, which described the mission as “a significant stride” in a U.S.-China space race, reported that the mission had been declared a “complete success.” The astronauts will spend three months aboard Tianhe, testing the life-support system and conducting experiments. Then-Vice President Mike Pence warned in 2019 that China appeared determined to become the “preeminent spacefaring nation” as the U.S. brought forward plans to return to the Moon.
Read it at Washington Post
