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June 17, 2021

Three Taikonauts Arrive at New Chinese Space Station After Successful Launch
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China has launched three astronauts on a three-month mission to its new
space station in low-Earth orbit. China built its own station after the
U.S. banned Chinese astronauts - known as taikonauts - from the
International Space Station. It's China's first crewed mission since
2016 and follows two other recent successes: a sample-return mission
from the moon and the deployment of a rover on Mars. China is just the
second nation, after the U.S., to operate a rover on the Red Planet. 


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