2022년 12월 5일 월요일

Chinese astronauts return to Earth after six-month mission

 

Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Liu Yang and Chen Dong of the Shenzhou XIV manned space mission attend a see-off ceremony at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 5, 2022 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province of ChinaIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
The mission carried out by three astronauts at the Tiangong space station was a "complete success", China said

Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth after completing a six-month mission aboard China's space station.

They left for space on 5 June to oversee the final construction stage of the Tiangong space station, which was completed in November.

The crew touched down on board the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft on Sunday in China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

China's space agency declared the mission a "complete success".


Staff at the landing site carried the crew out of the exit capsule, which landed shortly after 20:00 local time, about nine hours after undocking from the space station.

Ms Yang, China's first female astronaut, said she had an unforgettable memory in the space station and "is excited to return to the motherland," Xinhua state news agency reported.

While in space, the three astronauts oversaw the arrival of the second and third modules for Tiangong and carried out three spacewalks to check and test the new facilities.

Chinese astronaut Liu Yang waving as officials assist her from the capsule of the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft after landing in China's Inner MongoliaIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Liu Yang, who took part in the mission, is China's first female astronaut

A new crew of three Chinese astronauts arrived at the space station to make its first in-orbit crew handover on Wednesday.

The new crew lifted off in the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert in north-west China.

They will live on the station for six months. It will be the second permanently inhabited space outpost, after the Nasa-led International Space Station from which China was excluded in 2011.

It is the last of 11 missions required to assemble the station that is expected to operate for around a decade and run experiments in near-zero gravity.

The new crew will focus on installing equipment and facilities around the space station, a spokesperson for the China Manned Space Administration said.

China is only the third country in history to have put both astronauts into space and to build a space station, after the Soviet Union and the US.

Citizens watch TV news showing the Chinese astronaut crew completing the first in-orbit handover in Fuyang City, Anhui Province, China, December 3, 2022.IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Chinese astronauts completed the first in-orbit handover at the Tiangong space station

Tiangong space station, or "Heavenly Palace", is China's new permanent space station. The country has previously launched two temporary trial space stations, named as Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2.

Over the next decade of the Tiangong's operation, it is expected China will launch two crewed missions to the station each year.

China has opened the selection process for astronauts for future missions to applicants from the "special administrative regions" of Macau and Hong Kong, who have previously been excluded.

China put its first satellite into orbit in 1970 - as it went through massive disruptions caused by the Cultural Revolution.

In the past 10 years, China has launched more than 200 rockets.

It has already sent an unmanned mission to the Moon, called Chang'e 5, to collect and return rock samples. It planted a Chinese flag on the lunar surface - which was deliberately bigger than previous US flags.

Graphic illustrating China's plan for space exploration

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