【Beijing, June 25, CMSP News】On the morning of June 25, after the successful separation of Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 10 spacecraft,  Shenzhou 10 spaceship flied around Tiangong 1 target vehicle and completed short-distance rendezvous. It indicates that China’s first spacecraft fly-around rendezvous test has achieved the desired result.

At 07:05 a.m., Shenzhou 10 spaceship successfully separated from Tiangong 1 target vehicle and withdrew to a berthing point a certain distance away. After that, Shenzhou 10 spaceship underwent orbit transfer control according to preset procedures and flied around Tiangong 1 target vehicle from its top area to its back area. During the process, under the accurate control of the ground staff, Shenzhou 10 spaceship adopted a forward-flying position while Tiangong 1 target vehicle adopted a backward-flying position. Controlled by the ground staff, Shenzhou 10 spaceship started to approach towards Tiangong 1 target vehicle and completed short-distance rendezvous smoothly.

During the course of fly-around rendezvous test, astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping stayed in the re-entry module with their intra-vehicular space suits, calmly and closely watched the data on the parameter and reported timely the progress of the test to the ground.

According to the schedule, Shenzhou 10 spacecraft will return to the earth at approximately 8:00 June 26.

The aim of the fly-around test is to verify fly-around and all-position rendezvous technology of the spacecraft, paving the way for the future space station construction. (Translated by Yu Yanjuan)