China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, completed an automated fast-docking with Tiangong-2 space lab at 11:58 p.m. Tuesday.

Controlled from Earth, Tianzhou-1 began to approach Tiangong-2 at 5:24 p.m. Tuesday and it took six and a half hours to complete the fast-docking with the space lab.

It was the third docking between the two spacecraft using fast-docking technology. Previously, it took about two days to dock.

The experiment tested the cargo spacecraft’s capability of fast-docking, laying a foundation for future space station building.

Tianzhou-1 was launched on April 20 from south China’s Hainan Province, and it completed the first and second docking with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab on April 22 and June 19, respectively.

The cargo spacecraft will conduct the third refueling of the space lab before returning to Earth.

The two spacecraft completed their first in-orbit refueling on April 27 and their second in-orbit refueling on June 15.

China is the third country, after Russia and the United States, to master refueling techniques in space, which is crucial in the building of a permanent space station.

Tiangong-2, which was sent into space on Sept. 15, 2016, is China’s first space lab “in the strict sense” and a key step in building a permanent space station.

Cargo ships play a crucial role maintaining a space station and carrying supplies and fuel into orbit.

China’s armed police on Tuesday completed an anti-terror exercise in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The exercise, held simultaneously in several locations including Aksu, Kashgar, Urumqi and Yili over the past three and half days, included more than 10,000 people, according to a military statement.

The exercise examined the force’s ability to carry out missions in complicated environments such as in deserts, plateaus and mountainous regions, as well as nighttime operations, it said.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s first commercial quantum private communication network has been completed in Shandong Province, local government said Tuesday.

Taiwan’s weather bureau Tuesday issued a sea warning as Typhoon Talim approached the island.

Talim, this year’s 18th typhoon, was located about 810 kilometers southeast of Taipei, moving northwest toward Taiwan at a speed of up to 21 kilometers per hour, according to latest data of the bureau.

The storm will pose an increasing threat to Taiwan’s northern and eastern waters as it increases in intensity, the bureau said.

It also cautioned people in Taiwan to remain vigilant as heavy rain is likely in northern and eastern areas from Wednesday afternoon.

Official confirmation has been given of some issues arising from the excavation of the tomb of ancient playwright Tang Xianzu.

Zhang Ling, deputy head of the archaeology section of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), said the excavation of the main structure of Tang’s tomb had not been approved and that archaeologists and the local cultural heritage agency had failed to report their discoveries to the administration in a timely manner.

Late last month, archeologists in east China’s Jiangxi Province said that they had found a cluster of tombs believed to belong to the playwright and his family.

However, doubts emerged as to whether the excavation had been conducted in a proper manner.

Zhang said that in April the SACH approved a plan to excavate the cluster, but digging was to be limited to annexes and outbuildings only. However, the archaeologists may have misunderstood the SACH instruction and cleaned up the external structure of the tombs.

More importantly, they did not follow the routine practice of promptly reporting any important findings to the SACH, Zhang said. The administration has the right to stop, direct or support any archaeological work to ensure excavation is conducted in an orderly manner.

The SACH has summoned officials from Jiangxi for talks to ensure proper study and preservation of the site.

Best known for “The Peony Pavilion,” the story of the romance between a daughter of a wealthy official and a talented but poor young scholar, Tang is sometimes compared with his contemporaries, William Shakespeare and Cervantes. All three died in the same year.