Crew starts making China's new space station their home

Three Chinese astronauts have begun making China's new space station their home for the next three months

JIUQUAN, China -- Three Chinese astronauts have begun making China’s new space station their home for the next three months, after their launch and arrival at the station Thursday marked further advances in the country’s ambitious space program. Their Shenzhou-12 craft connected with the station about six hours after taking off from the Jiuquan launch center on the edge of the Gobi Desert. About three hours later, commander Nie Haisheng, followed by Liu Boming and space rookie Tang Hongbo, opened the hatches and floated into the Tianhe-1, the core living segment of the station. Pictures showed them busy at work unpacking equipment and at one point turning to the camera to greet and salute audiences back on Earth. “This represents the first time Chinese have entered their own space station,” state broadcaster CCTV said on its nightly news.