Chinese astronauts board space station in historic mission

BEIJING — Three Chinese astronauts arrived on Wednesday at China’s space station for the first in-orbit crew rotation in Chinese space history, launching operation of the second inhabited outpost in low-Earth orbit after the NASA-led International Space Station.

The spacecraft Shenzhou-15, or “Divine Vessel”, and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) on Tuesday in sub-freezing temperatures in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, according to state television.

Shenzhou-15 was the last of 11 missions, including three previous crewed missions, needed to assemble the “Celestial Palace…

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