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The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the Tiangong-1, a target orbiter and space module sent to space in 2011,around noon on Thursday.

Part of the nose cone of the Shenzhou X spacecraft is found on Tuesday in Yulin, Shaanxi province. Ma Guanghao / For China Daily

Astronauts eat sticky rice dumplings in orbit for Dragon Boat Festival

China is pursuing its space dream unswervingly, President Xi Jinping said following the successful launch of the Shenzhou X spacecraft on Tuesday.

The Long March 2F carrier rocket with three astronauts — commander Nie Haisheng, astronaut Zhang Xiaoguang and the second Chinese woman in space Wang Yaping — blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province at 5:38 pm on Tuesday.

Xi met with representatives from organizations taking part in the mission at the center in the remote Gobi desert on Tuesday evening, and extended his congratulations and greetings.

"The Shenzhou X spacecraft has been successfully launched and precisely put into orbit, which means that our country's fifth manned space mission has succeeded in the first phase," he said.

"At this very moment, I am sharing the same feeling with everyone," he said. "I am very happy and excited."

Xi said China is pursuing its space dream continuously by developing the space industry and turning the country into a space power.

The Shenzhou X mission is of great significance for the country's efforts to consolidate and improve the rendezvous and docking technology and promote the development of a space lab and space station, he said.

Xi spoke highly of those involved in the manned space program, praising them for their hard work, and urged them to exert persistent efforts and carry out all subsequent work carefully.