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China launches first crewed space docking mission, first female taikonaut [i]China on Saturday (June 16) launched its fourth manned spaceflight — including the nation's first female astronaut — on a mission to perform the country's first piloted docking with a prototype space station. The Shenzhou 9 capsule lifted off at 6:37 a.m. EDT (1037 GMT) on top of a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi desert. Flying on the spacecraft were three Chinese astronauts, or "taikonauts" — Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang. Jing, the mission commander, previously flew on China's third spaceflight, Shenzhou 7, in 2008. Saturday's launch was the first for Liu Wang and Liu Yang, the latter making history as the country's first woman in space.[/i]
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