China achieved a new milestone in its conquest of space on Tuesday. The People's Republic of China launched a crewed mission with three people on board into orbit, the ultimate goal of which will be to dock with Tiangong Space Station (“Heavenly Palace”) and relieve the three taikonauts (the Chinese word for "astronauts") who have spent the past six months there. After a successful launch, if all goes according to plan, contact will occur in the next few hours. This is the first crew change at the Chinese station since the Asian power completed, in November of last year, the assembly of the third and final module—a laboratory—leaving the terminal ready for full operation: a kind of scientific capsule orbiting 400 kilometers from Earth.
