About 400 kilometers above the earth, the astronauts are anticipated to dock with the Tianhe core module of the space station.
Three astronauts, including the first civilian, were successfully launched onto the Chinese space station on Tuesday by the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft. The mission will last five months.
The spacecraft launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 9:31 AM (Beijing Time), according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). It was mounted on a Long March-2F carrier rocket.
Shenzhou-16 detached from the rocket and entered its intended orbit around 10 minutes after liftoff. The CMSA declared that the launch was a total success and that the crew members were in good health.
After a voyage of less than seven hours, the astronauts should dock with the Tianhe core module of the space station, which is located 400 kilometers above the planet.
China has added a civilian for the first time to its rotating crew for the space station, which was previously only accessible to military personnel.
One of the three astronauts was Gui Haichao, a professor at Beijing’s Beihang University who is known as a specialist in payloads.
The other two are the mission’s co-commander and the first Chinese astronaut to venture into space for a record-breaking fourth time, Jing Haipeng.
Zhu Yangzhu, an astronaut and flight engineer, is also embarking on his first mission to space.
According to Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, the Shenzhou-16 will be the first personnel mission after China’s space station program entered the stage of application and development.
According to him, the trio would remain in orbit for around five months.
China will be the only nation to possess a space station when it is complete, as the International Space Station (ISS) of Russia is a joint venture of multiple nations. By 2030, the ISS station will likewise be shut down.
The two robotic arms aboard China’s space station, notably the long one with the capacity to snag items from space, including satellites, are a notable feature.
The Shenzhou-16 spacecraft will quickly and automatically rendezvous with the space station after entering orbit and dock with it.
The Shenzhou-16 astronauts will carry out the pre-planned extensive in-orbit tests and experiments in a variety of domains. The study of unique quantum phenomena, highly accurate space-time-frequency systems, the confirmation of general relativity, and the origin of life are among the high-level scientific advances they are anticipated to accomplish.
Additionally, the launch is the Long March carrier rocket series’ 475th flight mission.
