They make up the Shenzhou 13 crew and have spent almost six months on the Chinese space station. Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu returned to Earth aboard their spacecraft Shenzhou on April 16. They landed north of the Jiuquan launch base located in Inner Mongolia, in the Gobi Desert, in the north of the country.
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[EN VIDÉO] Chinese space station: first successful spacewalk Two of the three inhabitants of the new Chinese Space Station have succeeded in their first intervention in space.
Never has a Chinese astronaut spent so much time in space. The duration record was held by the previous crew, Shenzhou 12, with almost two months of mission. The three astronauts had joined the new chinese space station on October 15, 2021. During these six months, the Shenzhou 13 crew carried out many scientific experiments there.
The astronauts notably carried out two spacewalks (EVA). They were used to test once again the reliability of the Feitian spacesuit, inspired by the Russian, Orlan. During this EVA, the astronauts notably attached a grappling hook to one arm robotics from the central module of the station, Tianhe. Thus, Wang Yaping, strong of a first short flight in 2013became the first Chinese woman to perform an EVA.
The Shenzhou 13 crew also conducted two online lessons from the station for thousands of school children nationwide. They recently had the opportunity to discuss with Western participants as part of a Live with the Chinese Embassy in the United States. The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Muskhad even sent them pre-recorded remarks, seeking to “ extend space exploration to all of humanity”.
The station awaits its next crew
The next visitor to the station will be a Tianzhou freighter (noh 3) which will supply the Shenzhou 14 crew (also three astronauts). The crew should join the station in June. This crew will have the very important mission of supervising the joining to the central Tianhe module of two new modules, named Wentian and Mengtian, which will house scientific experiments.
Do you like kites? Here is one reproducing a Shenzhou ship which moors at the station (which has its three modules).
Wentian is supposed to arrive in July, and Mengtian in October. The station can be further extended later with spare modules. She will occasionally host the future Xuntian space telescope (the Hubble Chinese) for in-orbit maintenance.
Finally, for the very first time, the Shenzhou14 crew will be relieved directly in the station in October by the Shenzhou 15 crew. It is with the Shenzhou 14 crew that China intends to begin a permanent occupation of low orbit by astronauts.
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