Chunks of communications equipment, which were jettisoned from the International Space Station, moved at 17,000 miles per hour, making for a nighttime spectacle.
Chinese officials at a desert rocket base described plans for their new space station and for reusable rockets, as well as travel beyond near-Earth orbit.
The crew will set off from a secretive desert launch center to rendezvous with fellow astronauts aboard Tiangong, the country’s newly completed outpost in orbit.