On June 16, 2012 at 10:37 UTC the "Shenzhou-9” manned spacecraft was launched from Jiuquan Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province (China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region). The crew consists of Jing Haipeng - a veteran Chinese cosmonaut – Commander of the crew; Liu Wang an officer in the Chinese Air Force, the pilot of Shenzhou 9; Liu Yang, a 33-year-old Air Force pilot, the China's first woman in space.
Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang (left to right) depart their crew quarters on the way to the launch pad before liftoff. Credit: China Ministry of Defense.
The "Shenzhou-9” was orbited by the Long March-2F rocket-carrier.
The "Shenzhou-9” will dock with the orbiting "Tiangong-1” space lab module. China's first manual space docking procedure is expected to be completed during the 13-day mission.
Exactly 49 years ago on the same day on June 16, the First world woman cosmonaut, Russian Valentina Tereshkova began her space flight.
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