China Launches 3 Astronauts To Complete New Space Station
China released a spacecraft on Sunday wearing 3 astronauts to the Chinese area station, because of be finished via way of means of the quit of the yr, as production entered a pivotal degree.
A Long March-2F rocket transporting the Shenzhou-14, or “Divine Vessel” in Chinese, blasted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 10:forty four a.m. (0244 GMT), a stay broadcast via way of means of country tv showed.
Construction of the gap station commenced ultimate yr with the release of the primary and biggest of its 3 modules – Tianhe – the residing quarters of travelling astronauts. The modules Wentian and Mengtian are to be released in July and October, respectively, docking with Tianhe to shape a T-formed structure.
Shenzhou-14 undertaking commander Chen Dong, 43, and crew friends Liu Yang, 43, and Cai Xuzhe, 46, all from China’s 2nd cohort of astronauts, will stay and paintings on the gap station for 6 months earlier than returning to Earth in December with the advent of the Shenzhou-15 crew.
Former air pressure pilot Chen with Liu, who have become China’s first woman astronaut in area a decade ago, and area undertaking debutant Cai, will oversee the rendezvous, docking and integration of Wentian and Mengtian with the middle module.
They may even deployation device outside and inside the gap station and perform quite a number clinical research.
“The Shenzhou-14 undertaking is a pivotal warfare withinside the production degree of China’s area station,” Chen advised a information convention in Jiuquan on Saturday. “The assignment can be tougher, there can be extra troubles and the demanding situations can be greater.”
The area station is designed for a lifespan of as a minimum a decade.
