Shenzhou 9

Shenzhou 9 was China's fourth crewed spaceflight and the first crewed mission to dock with the Tiangong-1 experimental space laboratory. The spacecraft launched from Jiuquan on June 16, 2012 with commander Jing Haipeng, operator Liu Wang, and experimenter Liu Yang, who became the first Chinese woman in space. CNSA describes the mission as a test of automatic and manual rendezvous and docking with Tiangong-1, crew transportation and cargo resupply to an orbital vehicle, and the ability of Tiangong-1 to support astronaut work and life. Shenzhou 9 completed an automatic docking on June 18, after which the crew entered Tiangong-1 and began work inside the laboratory. On June 24, the spacecraft undocked and Liu Wang manually flew the final approach back to Tiangong-1, completing China's first crewed manual docking with support from Jing and Liu Yang. The crew returned safely on June 29 after nearly 13 days in orbit, giving China operational experience needed for later Tiangong laboratory flights and station assembly.