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Shenzhou 8 Lifts Off
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
Launch of Shenzhou 8 on October 31, 2011, was successful. According to the orbit calculation, the Shenzhou 8 spaceship has entered its operating orbit with a perigee height of 200 km and apogee height of 329 km. The obliquity of the orbit is 42 degrees, and the orbiting cycle is 5379 seconds.
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Tiangong-1-Shenzhou-8 Docking
Credit: CNTV/CCTV
Chinese TV shows the Tiangong 1 module docking with the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft Nov. 2, 2011.
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Shenzhou 8 Launch
Credit: China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology
China's Shenzhou 8 rocket lifts off on October 31, 2011.
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View of Tiangong 1 From Shenzhou 8
Credit: CCTV
A view of China's Tiangong 1 space lab module taken by the approaching Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, just minutes before the two vessels docked in Earth orbit.
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Chinese Mission Control
Credit: CNTV/CCTV
Chinese Mission Controllers watch as the Tiangong 1 spacecraft makes the country's first docking maneuver with Shenzhou 8.
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China Space Program Chief Commander
Credit: CNTV/CCTV
Chang Wanquan, the chief commander of the China Manned Space Engineering Project, addressed Chinese mission control after the country's successful first space docking.
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Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 8 Docked in Space
Credit: China Central Television
Video still showing China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft docked with the Tiangong 1 lab module on Nov. 3, 2011.
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Shenzhou 8 Launch
Credit: CCTV
China's unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft launches on Oct. 31, 2011, on a mission to dock with the prototype space module Tiangong 1.
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Shenzhou 8 Launch — Rocket Close-up
Credit: CCTV
China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft launched into Earth orbit on Oct. 31, 2011 atop a Long March 2F rocket. This close-up shot shows the rocket in action, shortly after liftoff.
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China's Long March 2F Rocket
Credit: DLR
The Chinese Long March 2F rocket due to carry the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft to orbit in November 2011 rolls to the launch pad in Mongolia.
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Shenzhou 8 Spacecraft Undergoing Testing
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
Photo of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft undergoing testing earlier in 2011.
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Scientists Prepare SIMBOX Samples
Credit: DLR
German and Chinese researchers prepare biological samples for the SIMBOX research payload in a laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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Tiangong 1 Space Lab Design
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
This artist's illustration from a China space agency video shows the Tiangong 1 space laboratory, a prototype module for the country's planned space station.
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The SIMBOX Research Payload
Credit: Astrium
The SIMBOX experiment hardware, consisting of a heated chamber and centrifuge, will carry biological samples in 40 compartments.
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Shenzhou 8 Rolls to Launch Pad
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering
China's Long March 2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, rolls to the launch pad in preparation for its November 2011 launch.
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China's Tiangong 1 Docking Concept
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
A Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft closes in on the country's Tiangong 1 space lab in this still from a mission profile video.
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Shenzhou 8 Preparation
Credit: Huang Xi / Wen Su-Dong
Workers prepare the Chinese Long March 2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, for its November 2011 launch.
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Display Model of Tiangong I Module
Credit: Gregory Kulacki/People's Daily Online
Display model of Tiangong I module at an exhibition hall at the China Academy of Space Technology, complete with access door for public viewing. A Long March 2F carrier rocket for Tiangong I arrived at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on July 23. Personnel and facilities from all subsystems and payloads are gathering at the launch center for the mission of the space laboratory, which are reportedly going well.
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Tiangong 1 Cutaway: Moving Between Spacecraft
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
This still from a China space agency video shows a cutaway of a Shenzhou spacecraft docked at the country's Tiangong 1 space lab, showing how astronauts will move between the two Chinese spacecraft.
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Building China's Tiangong 1 Space Lab
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
This still from a China space agency video shows the country's Tiangong 1 space lab module under construction for its planned 2011 launch.
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Shenzhou 8 Launch — Rocket Close-up
Credit: CCTV
China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft launched into Earth orbit on Oct. 31, 2011 atop a Long March 2F rocket. This close-up shot shows the rocket in action, shortly after liftoff.
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Shenzhou 8 Spacecraft Press Conference
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
China manned space program spokeswoman Wu Ping speaks with reporters just before the launch of China's unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft at 5:58:07 a.m. on November 1 Local Time (about 6 p.m. EDT) on the country's first docking test flight to the Tiangong 1 space lab.
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Shenzhou 8 Docking Diagram
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
A graphic of Shenzhou 8's approach to the Tiangong 1 module on Nov. 2, 2011, Beijing time, to mark China's first space docking.
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Shenzhou 8 Spacecraft Docks with Tiangong 1 Already in Orbit
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
A view from onboard cameras aboard Chinese spacecraft during the docking of Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 to form China's first mini-space station in orbit.
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View of 2 Chinese Spacecraft Docking
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
A view from onboard cameras aboard Chinese spacecraft during the docking of Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 to form China's first mini-space station in orbit.
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Shenzhou 8 Docking Approach Diagram
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
http://cms2.space.com/cms/image_albums/13443-photos-china-shenzhou-8-space-docking-test-flight/edit#
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Shenzhou 8 Docking Diagram
Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office
A graphic of Shenzhou 8's approach to the Tiangong 1 module on Nov. 2, 2011, Beijing time, to mark China's first space docking.
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Shenzhou 8 Returns to Earth
Credit: CNTV
This screenshot of a CNTV Chinese news broadcast shows an infrared view of the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft as it descends to Earth under its parachute on Nov. 17, 2011. The spacecraft landed in inner Mongolia to end China's first space docking mission.
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Shenzhou 8 Has Landed
Credit: CNTV
A CNTV reporter stands next to China's Shenzhou 8 space capsule on Nov. 17, 2011 after the unmanned spacecraft landed in inner Mongolia after a nearly two-week mission that successfully performed China's first space dockings in orbit.
