Shenzhou-9

People's Republic of China

Launch, orbit and landing data

Launch date:	16.06.2012
Launch time:	10:37:24.558 UTC
Launch site:	Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center
Launch pad:	1
Altitude:	200 - 330 km
Inclination:	42.836°
Docking Tiangong-1:	18.06.2012, 06:07:04 UTC
Undocking Tiangong-1:	28.06.2012, 01:22 UTC
Landing date:	29.06.2012
Landing time:	02:02:49 UTC
Landing site:	42°15'47.81" N, 111°16'44.44" E

Crew

No.	Surname	Given names	Position	Flight No.	Duration	Orbits
1	Jing	Haipeng	Commander	2	12d 15h 25m 24s	198
2	Liu	Wang	Operator	1	12d 15h 25m 24s	198
3	Liu	Yang	Experimenter	1	12d 15h 25m 24s	198

Crew seating arrangement

Launch
1	Jing
2	Liu
3	Liu

Landing
1	Jing
2	Liu
3	Liu

Backup Crew

No.	Surname	Given names	Position
1	Nie	Haisheng	Commander
2	Zhang	Xiaoguang	Operator
3	Wang	Yaping	Experimenter

hi res version (383 KB)

Hardware

Launch vehicle:	Long March 2F (Chang Zheng CZ-2F No. Y9)
Spacecraft:	Shenzhou-9

Flight

Launch from Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center; landing 162 km north of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia; fourth Chinese manned spaceflight.

Following a two-days solo flight Shenzhou-9 docked automatic with the Chinese space station Tiangong-1. Two hours later the crew entered the station for the first time and became the first resident crew.

On June 24, 2012 the astronauts temporarily departed their quarters inside the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab, backing away inside a Shenzhou spacecraft before pilot Liu Wang took control of the capsule to complete the first manual docking in China's burgeoning space program. Docking occurred at 04:48 UTC.