The two astronauts aboard the Chinese Shenzhou-11 spacecraft entered the space lab Tiangong-2 on Wednesday morning, according to Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).

    Commander of the mission Jing Haipeng opened the hatch of Tiangong-2 and floated into the space lab, followed later by Chen Dong, state news agency (Xinhua) reported.

    The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft successfully docked with Tiangong-2 on Tuesday at an altitude of 393 kilometers after blasting off Monday from the Jiuquan space centre, a military-operated facility on the edge of the Gobi Desert.

    State television on Wednesday morning broadcast live video of the three-hour, computer-automated docking and the astronauts floating through a tricky 1-metre-long, 80 centimeter-wide passageway into the lab.

    Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will spend the next 30 days conducting experiments before returning to Earth around November 14. It is the third space trip for mission commander Jing, who will celebrate his 50th birthday on the lab.

Source: QNA