China Space Station sees heavenly reunion of six taikonauts

THE China Space Station staged its first “heavenly reunion” of six taikonauts on Tuesday evening after it entered the application and development phase at the end of 2022. Led by mission commander and veteran taikonaut Jing Haipeng, the incoming Shenzhou-16 trio entered the space station at 6:22 pm on Tuesday where they received warm embraces from their Shenzhou-15 brothers

The historic moment marked the beginning of China’s second in-orbit direct handover between two Shenzhou crews , follow - ing the first one between the Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-14 crew in November 2022.

Shenzhou - 15 mission commander Fei Junlong and his fellow crew members Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, who are famous for their great skills and passion for Chinese calligraphy, decorated the Tianhe core module with red and joyful couplets for the welcome party The six taikonauts exchanged hugs and firm handshakes before they had a group picture taken to celebrate the reunion in space

Next, the crew of the two missions will carry out an in- orbit handover and will live together in the space station for about five days before the Shenzhou-15 returns to earth, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

Currently, a total of 17 astronauts are in orbit: Six taikonauts from China, five NASA astronauts from the US, three cosmonauts from Russia, two from Saudi Arabia and one from the UAE

Marking the first manned space mission after China’s space station entered its application and development phase , the Shenzhou - 16 spacecraft carrying three taikonauts was successfully launched onboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket at 9:31 am on Tuesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located in Northwest China

After a flight of around

10 minutes, the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft successfully separated from the launch vehicle and entered its preset orbit, with the crew members in good condition , according to a statement the CMSA sent to the Global Times , announcing the success of the launch mission At 4:29 pm on Tuesday , some six and a half hours after launch , the Shenzhou - 16 spacecraft docked with the Tianhe core module’s radial port, announced the CMSA . (Global Times)

China’s rapid economic recovery brings ‘big opportunities’ to Uruguay: Uruguayan Agriculture Minister

URUGUAY’S Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries Fernando Mattos just finished his 19-day-long trip in China on Friday , achieving fruitful results of bilateral agricultural co-operation including signed agreements between their agricultural ministries as well as other related institutions.

Mattos said that China’s rapid economic recovery has brought many and constantly growing opportunities to Uruguay, adding that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has reduced the geographical distance between the two far friends and partners

The Embassy of Uruguay in Beijing told a press conference held on Thursday that Fernando Mattos’ visit took place at the invitation of Tang Renjian, China’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

During Mattos’ 19-day visit in China, he completed an intense agenda with approximately 100 meetings including conferences with General Administration of Customs of China (GAC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China (MOA).

Important

Partners

In addition, Mattos visited Hong Kong , Macao , Guangdong, Henan, Shanghai , Jilin , Shandong and Beijing , and he also met with the highest authorities of some international organisations in China such as the president of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the top representative of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in China.

According to the Embassy of Uruguay, Mattos signed the Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) between the Ministry of Livestock , Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay and China’s MOA on co-operation in fisheries and aquaculture

The minister also witnessed the signing of important co - operation documents between institutions in Uruguay and China During the visit, the National Agricultural Research Institute of Uruguay signed a co-operation agreement with the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration of China , and the Uruguayan Horse Breeders Association signed a co-operation agreement with the China Horse Industry Association

Mattos’ visit came after Uruguayan Foreign Minister

Francisco Bustillo Bonasso ’ s five - day visit to China starting from April 16 , during which Bustillo said that Uruguay attaches great importance to nurturing good Uruguay-China relations and is expected to further work closely with China to ramp up co-operation in economic and other fields

According to the data released by GAC , bilateral trade reached $7.44 billion in 2022, up 14.9 percent on a yearly basis China’s imports from Uruguay jumped 23 percent to hit $4.46 billion last year

“We ended a visit of such details with an extensive