China's successful launch of the crewed spacecraft Shenzhou-12 showed the Asian country's space capabilities, said an Australian scholar in astrophysics.

 

Dr. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist and cosmologist at The Australian National University (ANU), told Xinhua on Thursday that the launch was "another key mission to make the Tiangong space station fully operable".

 

He noted that the project showed that China is equal to some other advanced countries in space capabilities. "More so the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is locked out of the International Space Station (ISS) because of the U.S.," he added.

 

Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship has just successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on Thursday, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

 

Tucker said that he believes the astronauts will "work on fitting out the inside module, to prepare it for the future missions that will come".

 

In addition, he said he believes the launch was a way to show exploration and curiosity, and also "have a way to have peaceful cooperation in space".

 

"I and others in Australia regularly collaborate with scientists in China as well as the U.S., Europe, Russia," he said. "It does open up new methods of future missions and collaboration in space."