Henan firms celebrate space success

The successful launch of the Shenzhou XI spacecraft on Oct 17 and its automatic docking with the Tiangong II space lab two days later has brought China one step closer to its objective of building a space station.

Chen Dong, one of the two astronauts aboard Shenzhou XI, became the second Henan province native to travel in space, after Liu Yang, who was also China's first female astronaut, which is a source of great pride to people in the province associated with the project.

The visors on the astronaut's helmets and related plastic components, some of the most important components in space suits, are the fruits of research conducted by the National Engineering Research Center for Rubber Plastic Mould Technology at Zhengzhou University in the central province.