Chinas first woman astronaut soars into space

June 16, 2012 17:29

China on Saturday fired its longest and heaviest rocket, successfully sending its first woman astronaut along with two male colleagues into space to conduct the maiden manned docking of its space lab being built to rival Russia's Mir International Space Station.

In a text-book launch, Shenzhou-9 (Divine Craft) spaceship carrying the three astronauts blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province.

About 10 minutes later it reached its intended orbit bringing cheers all around.This is the longest and heaviest rocket China used so far, state television which telecast the event live said. The launch also highlights China's long- range missile capability.

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