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A 20-story-tall Long March 2F carrier rocket blasts off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert on June 17. [Photo by Wang Jiangbo/for chinadaily.com.cn]

The successful launch of the Shenzhou XII spacecraft on June 17 and its docking with Tianhe, the core module of China's space station, hours later marked a major milestone in the country's space exploration program.

The Shenzhou XII, China's seventh manned space mission, carried a crew of three astronauts, the first visitors to the core module of the space station, who will spend the next three months there.

Watching the live stream of technicians in the launch center, viewers in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province spotted a familiar figure, Shen Yinuo, who graduated from Zhejiang Chun Hui Senior High School in Shangyu district.

Shen is a staff member of the 801 Research Institute under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the country's major space contractor. His institute helped develop a propulsion system that ensures Shenzhou XII's docking with the space station.

Shaoxing native Shen Yinuo at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. [Photo/WeChat account: sxfabu]

"It has been an honor to work with the R&D team of Shenzhou spaceships," said Shen when interviewed by a Shaoxing media outlet on June 18. He had just been relieved from an 80-day mission.

"Spaceship missions are systematic projects, which require the commitment of many technicians and researchers who can't even be there to witness the launch," he added.

Shen said that his space dream started in childhood. He loved to learn any information about the mysterious galaxy, noting that the observatory of Chun Hui Senior High School used to be his favorite place.