China will send three more astronauts to the Tiangong station to complete the construction of the space station in orbit.
The three astronauts participating in the Shenzhou 13 mission Ye Guangfu, Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping (from left). Image: Xinhua
The crew of Shenzhou 14 will spend six months on the Tiangong station to install two more modules, according to Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Administration. The country’s space program put its first astronauts into orbit in 2003, landed a robotic probe on the Moon in 2013 and flew to Mars last year. Authorities are discussing the possibility of launching a manned mission to the Moon.
Thien Ha core module of Thien Cung station launched in April 2021. As planned, the construction of the station will be completed this year. The Wentian module will launch in July, followed by the Mong Thien module in October. Near the end of the Shenzhou 14 mission, three other astronauts will be taken to the station on the Shenzhou 15 spacecraft and stay for six months. The two crews will stay together for 3-5 days, marking the first time the Thien Cung station has accommodated six people.
On April 16, the Shenzhou 13 crew landed in the Gobi desert in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region. During the mission, astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space. Wang, commander Zhai Zhigang and colleague Ye Guangfu also conduct physics lectures for high school students.
China is the third country to send astronauts into space after the Soviet Union and the United States. Tiangong is China’s third space station after two predecessors launched in 2011 and 2016.
An Khang (According to Phys.org)
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