12China'sShenzhou11 NewsDigesChina'sShenzhou11'heavenlyvessel'launchedMonday(7:30p.m.SundayET)fromJiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenterintheGobiDesert.ThelaunchwasshownonstatebroadcasterCCTV. This is China's longest-ever crewed space mission. On board are two astronauts -- Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong. They will dock with the Tiangong-2 space lab， which was launched last month. Jing and Chen will remain in space for a total of 33 days， with 30 of those spent conducting experiments related to medicine， physics and biology in the space lab.Since October 2003， China has completed five manned space flight missions -- the last one took place in 2013 and lasted 15 days.What’s more，Jing Haipeng， 49， has already been to space twice. The Tiangong-2， and its predecessor Tiangong-1， are prototypes for China's ultimate goal -- a permanent 20-ton space station， which is expected to be sent into orbit in 2022.China aims to send its space station into orbit two years before the International Space Station (ISS) retires in 2024， according to state news agency Xinhua. China is the third country in the world that has independently fulfilled manned spaceflight following the former Soviet Union and the United States.Prior to the Shenzhou XI， China had sent five spacecraft and 10 astronauts to space since 2003， when it lifted the Shenzhou V to carry the nation's first astronaut Yang Liwei， who is now a senior space official， into space.AerospaceistoryOn 20 November 1999， China successfully launches the first unmanned test spaceship 1Shenzhou I. This is also the first launch of the ChangZheng-2F launch vehicle， which was specifically designed for the manned spaceflight program.2Shenzhou II blasts off on 10 January， 2001， carrying microbes and several small animals. The capsule returns to Earth on January 16， touching down in the Inner Mongolia region.The Shenzhou II spaceship is the first formal unmanned spaceship of China.3China launches Shenzhou III mission at 22:15 pm Beijing time on March 25， 2002. The Shenzhou 3 spaceship is an unmanned spaceship technically similar to manned spaceship.4Shenzhou IV spaceship takes off on December 29， 2002. It is developed on the back of successful launch of Shenzhou 1， Shenzhou 2 and Shenzhou 3 flight tasks. Shenzhou 4’s equipment， function and technical conditions are almost the same as those of manned spaceships.5The Shenzhou V spaceship is China’s first manned spaceship developed on the basis of unmanned spaceship， and has the ability to carry out automatic return under emergency， the manually-controlled return， the return on the second or third day. Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei became an instant star on Oct. 15， 2003， when he began his 21-hour space mission to go where no Chinese man had gone before.6Shenzhou VI， China's second human spaceflight， launches on October 12， 2005， on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Shenzhou spacecraft carried a crew of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng for five days in low Earth orbit.7Shenzhou VII blasts off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu province at 9:10 pm on Sep 25， 2008， with three astronauts on board to attempt the country's first-ever space walk. Onboard pilots Zhai Zhigang， Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng orbited the Earth for four days， and one of them floated out of the cabin 343 kilometers above the earth.8Launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Nov 1， 2011， Shenzhou VIII successfully rendezvouses and docks twice with the Tiangong-1 space lab module， which was launched from the same site on Sept 29. This marks the nation's first-ever space rendezvous and docking mission was a complete success.9The Long March-2F carrier rocket carrying China's manned Shenzhou IX spacecraft blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan， northwest China's Gansu province， June 16， 2012. Three astronauts Jing Haipeng， Liu Wang and Liu Yang carried out the mission.10Shenzhou X takes off on 11 June 2013. It is China's fifth manned space mission. The mission had a crew of three astronauts: Nie Haisheng， Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping. The Shenzhou spacecraft docks with the Tiangong-1 trial space laboratory module on June 13， and the astronauts perform physical， technological， and scientific experiments while on board. Shenzhou 10 is the final mission to Tiangong 1 in this portion of the Tiangong program.Word List vessel船，飞船 dock with 与…对接 manned space flight mission 载人航天飞行任务 blast off 发射 predecessor 前任，前辈 rendezvous约会 module（宇宙飞船上各个独立的） 舱 “微信号engage_CUCTVS 长按二维码关注输入单行小标题责编 采编／韩依格 郭泽众美编／韩滨蔚 叶敏尔或设置透明色隐藏