Sébastien Le Belzic (in Beijing), edited by Solène Leroux 11:03 a.m., June 06, 2022

Successful liftoff and docking for the Shenzhou-14 mission.

The Long March rocket left its launch pad in the middle of the Gobi Desert without incident.

Seven hours later, the crew was able to reach the space station Tiangong, which means "Heavenly Palace".

Their mission should last six months.

The Chinese regime pursues its dream of space conquest.

Three Chinese astronauts, taikonauts, left Sunday for the "Heavenly Palace".

It is the name of this space station that says a lot about China's ambitions.

Successful liftoff and docking for the Shenzhou-14 mission.

The Long March-2F rocket left its launch pad in the middle of the Gobi Desert without incident, ripping the vai out of the ground.

Seven hours later, the crew, made up of three taikonauts including a woman, was able to reach the Tiangong space station, "Heavenly Palace" in Mandarin.

For six months, Liu Yang (43), also the first Chinese woman in space in 2012, Chen Dong (43) and Cai Xuzhe (46) will assemble the last pieces of this giant.

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Objective: for the station to be permanently occupied

"After docking, their mission is to install the modules of the two laboratories in the station", explains Jia Shijin, one of the designers of this station, at the microphone of Europe 1. "During their stay in orbit, they will have to put in place different elements and will receive several cargoes. It is a very heavy mission, certainly the most important ever carried out so far", he assures.

For the first time, two Chinese crews will pass the baton in orbit in the station.

A step that should allow Tiangong to be permanently occupied, just like the International Space Station from which China has been excluded by NASA.

Since then, she has bet everything on this ambitious program, managed by the army, which includes missions to Mars and Jupiter, but also space tourism.