What does __class__mean?

Question

I was reading a code in Python when I came across this excerpt:

def __init__(self, conexao):
    __class__.conexao = conexao
    __class__.centro_espacial = conexao.space_center
    self.iniciar_decolagem()

Could you explain to me what it means class?

Code link: https://www.github.com/Pesterenan/MechPeste-Python/tree/master/DecolagemOrbital.py