Shenzhou-21 spaceship docks with space station combination

China's Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship successfully docked with the space station combination early Saturday morning, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off at 23:44 Friday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

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Shenzhou-21 spaceship docks with space station combination

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Shenzhou-21 spaceship docks with space station combination

About 10 minutes after the launch, the Shenzhou-21 spaceship separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit.

At 03:22 Saturday, after entering orbit, the Shenzhou-21 spaceship successfully docked with the front port of the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong space station.

The docking process took about 3.5 hours, setting a new record for the fastest rendezvous and docking between a Shenzhou spacecraft and the space station, said the CMSA.

The Shenzhou-21 crew consists of mission commander Zhang Lu, who was previously a member of the Shenzhou-15 mission, alongside flight engineer Wu Fei and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, who are each embarking on their first spaceflight mission.

The U.S. dollar weakened in late trading on Wednesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dropped 0.72 percent to 99.142 at 15:00 (1900 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.1683 dollars from 1.1574 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.3415 dollars from 1.3251 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 158.51 Japanese yen, lower than 159.73 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar declined to 0.7914 Swiss francs from 0.7988 Swiss francs, and it fell to 1.3849 Canadian dollars from 1.3899 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar lost to 9.3069 Swedish kronor from 9.5065 Swedish kronor.