BEIJING: Three astronauts successfully docked with China’s new space station on Saturday, state media said, marking Beijing’s longest crewed mission to date and the latest milestone in its campaign to become a major space power. .
The trio exploded shortly after midnight (1600 GMT) from the Jiuquan Launch Center in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, in which the team is expected to spend six months. tiangong space Station.
After the launch, the China Manned Space Agency declared it a success and said that the crew members were “in good shape”, according to Xinhua.
The Shenzhou-13 vessel carrying all three docked with the space station’s radial port hours later, Xinhua news agency said in a brief dispatch on Saturday morning.
The mission – twice as long as its 90-day predecessor – will install equipment and test technology for future construction at Tiangong Station.
Mission commander Zhai Zhigang, 55, a former fighter pilot who performed the country’s first spacewalk in 2008, said the team would conduct “more complex” spacewalks than previous missions.
Astronaut team includes military pilots wang yaping, 41, who became the first woman to visit the space station since she became China’s second woman in space in 2013.
The other member of the team is 41-year-old People’s Liberation Army pilot Ye Guangfu.
The space crew that broke a previous record – becoming the first mission to Tiangong – returned to Earth in September after three months on the space station.
China’s highly publicized space program has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the Moon.
Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, is expected to operate for at least 10 years.
Its main module entered orbit earlier this year, with the station expected to be operational by 2022.
The entire station will be similar to the Soviet Mir station which orbited the Earth from 1980 to 2001.
The lengthy mission is set to “expand China’s technological frontier” and verify the space station system’s potential for longer periods of human occupation, Chen LanoAn independent space analyst at GoTaikonauts told AFP.
“I don’t think it’s too challenging, because China’s technologies are quite mature, although anything in space is always challenging,” Chain said.
Saturday’s explosion came shortly after China launched its first solar exploration satellite into space. Sunday.
The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 missions to Tiangong by the end of next year, including at least two more crew launches that will deliver two lab modules to expand the 70-ton station.
China’s space ambitions have been partially fueled by a US ban on its astronauts aboard the International Space Station in collaboration with the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.
The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, however. NASA It has said that it could potentially remain operational beyond 2028.
Chinese space officials have said they are open to foreign cooperation on the space station, although the scope of that cooperation is unclear.
The country has come a long way since launching its first satellite in 1970.
It placed the first Chinese “Taikonaut” in space in 2003 and landed the Chang’e-4 robot on the far side of the moon in 2019 – a historic first.
In May, China became the second country to land and operate a rover on Mars.
Astronauts on the Tiangong space station will have separate living space, exercise equipment and a communications center for email and video calls with ground control.
The trio exploded shortly after midnight (1600 GMT) from the Jiuquan Launch Center in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, in which the team is expected to spend six months. tiangong space Station.
After the launch, the China Manned Space Agency declared it a success and said that the crew members were “in good shape”, according to Xinhua.
The Shenzhou-13 vessel carrying all three docked with the space station’s radial port hours later, Xinhua news agency said in a brief dispatch on Saturday morning.
The mission – twice as long as its 90-day predecessor – will install equipment and test technology for future construction at Tiangong Station.
Mission commander Zhai Zhigang, 55, a former fighter pilot who performed the country’s first spacewalk in 2008, said the team would conduct “more complex” spacewalks than previous missions.
Astronaut team includes military pilots wang yaping, 41, who became the first woman to visit the space station since she became China’s second woman in space in 2013.
The other member of the team is 41-year-old People’s Liberation Army pilot Ye Guangfu.
The space crew that broke a previous record – becoming the first mission to Tiangong – returned to Earth in September after three months on the space station.
China’s highly publicized space program has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the Moon.
Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, is expected to operate for at least 10 years.
Its main module entered orbit earlier this year, with the station expected to be operational by 2022.
The entire station will be similar to the Soviet Mir station which orbited the Earth from 1980 to 2001.
The lengthy mission is set to “expand China’s technological frontier” and verify the space station system’s potential for longer periods of human occupation, Chen LanoAn independent space analyst at GoTaikonauts told AFP.
“I don’t think it’s too challenging, because China’s technologies are quite mature, although anything in space is always challenging,” Chain said.
Saturday’s explosion came shortly after China launched its first solar exploration satellite into space. Sunday.
The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 missions to Tiangong by the end of next year, including at least two more crew launches that will deliver two lab modules to expand the 70-ton station.
China’s space ambitions have been partially fueled by a US ban on its astronauts aboard the International Space Station in collaboration with the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.
The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, however. NASA It has said that it could potentially remain operational beyond 2028.
Chinese space officials have said they are open to foreign cooperation on the space station, although the scope of that cooperation is unclear.
The country has come a long way since launching its first satellite in 1970.
It placed the first Chinese “Taikonaut” in space in 2003 and landed the Chang’e-4 robot on the far side of the moon in 2019 – a historic first.
In May, China became the second country to land and operate a rover on Mars.
Astronauts on the Tiangong space station will have separate living space, exercise equipment and a communications center for email and video calls with ground control.
.