Shenzhou XII CPC flag put on display at museum

The Communist Party of China flag carried by the country's Shenzhou XII manned spaceflight has become a permanent exhibit at the Party's museum in Beijing, according to China Central Television.

The State broadcaster reported on Thursday the flag was delivered to the Museum of the CPC in a ceremony that morning. Officials from the CPC Central Committee's Publicity Department, the China Manned Space Agency and the museum took part in the ceremony.

The flag was carried by the Shenzhou XII mission crew – Major General Nie Haisheng, Major General Liu Boming and Senior Colonel Tang Hongbo – during their 92-day space journey, so far the longest flight by Chinese astronauts. It was placed on the wall inside China's Tiangong space station during the mission.

The Shenzhou XII spacecraft was launched on a Long March 2F carrier rocket that blasted off on June 17 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The astronauts entered Tiangong later that day after the two spacecraft docked with each other, becoming the first inhabitants of the station.

They flew 90 days with the Tiangong and made two spacewalks to use a large robotic arm and other equipment to install and adjust devices outside the station. They also performed a number of scientific experiments and technological tests, and held video calls with President Xi Jinping and hundreds of researchers, teachers and students in Hong Kong.

The crew landed at the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in mid-September.

Currently, the Tiangong station is hosting the Shenzhou XIII crew — Major General Zhai Zhigang, Senior Colonel Wang Yaping and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu – who traveled there in mid-October atop a Long March 2F at the Jiuquan center. They are scheduled to stay in the station for six months.