Main challenge for the Shenzhou-14 crew: the reception and installation of two laboratory modules. The station should be fully operational by the end of the year.
Le Monde with AFP
China takes one more step in its project of space conquest. Three astronauts joined, Sunday, June 5, the station that Beijing built in orbit and which should now be occupied permanently.
The ship of the Shenzhou-14 mission was propelled by a long march-2F rocket, which took off at 10:44 a.m. (local time, 4:44 am in Paris) from the Jiuquan launch center, in the desert of Gobi (northwest). CCTV public television broadcast the launch images live. After about “seven hours of flight”, the vessel started first at the space station, said CCTV. Around 8:50 p.m. (Beijing time), the three astronauts finally entered the station’s main module, according to the space agency responsible for inhabited flights (CMSA).
Like the crew of the Shenzhou-13 mission, returned in mid-April, the three astronauts should stay about six months in the space station. Liu Yang, 43, who was the first Chinese woman in space in 2012, is part of the crew. She is accompanied by Chen Dong (43 years old) and Cai Xuzhe (46 years old), who made her first flight in space after twelve years of preparation. 2>
station fully operational by the end of 2022 Liu Yang (in the center), 43, who was the first Chinese woman in space in 2012, is part of the crew from Shenzhou-14. She is accompanied by Chen Dong (right, 43 years old) and Cai Xuzhe (46). They took off on June 5, 2022 from the Jiuquan launch center in China. STR/AFP
Main challenge for the Shenzhou-14 crew: the reception and installation of two laboratories modules that will be moving to the station. They will be launched from the earth in July and October.
When these laboratories modules are installed, the general structure of the station will have its final appearance, in the form of T. It will then be similar, in size, at the old Russian station Mir, orbit in 1986 by the Soviet Union and destroyed in 2001. Its lifespan should be at least ten, even fifteen, years.
called “Tiangong” in Chinese (“celestial palace”) but also known by its English acronym CSS (“Chinese space station” in French), it should be fully operational by the end of the year.
The Shenzhou-14 crew will also take out in space, will lead a series of experiences and will ensure the maintenance of Tiangong. New in this mission: for the first time, two Chinese crews will pass the relay in orbit in the station. Towards the end of their stay, before returning to Earth, the three astronauts of Shenzhou-14 will indeed live a few days in orbit with their three colleagues from the future Shenzhou-15 mission.
several feats years
In recent decades, China has been investing billions of euros in its space program. It was pushed to build its own station because of its exclusion from the International Space Station (ISS), the United States prohibiting NASA any collaboration with Beijing.
China sent her first astronaut in space in 2003 and has since made some remarkable prowess. In early 2019, she posed a machine on the hidden side of the moon, a world premiere. In 2020, she brought back moon samples and finalized Beidou, her satellite navigation system, competitor of American GPS.
In 2021, she had a small robot landed on Mars and plans to send men to the Moon by 2030. In the longer term, China plans to offer space tourism, said Zhou in March Jianping, the conductor of the Chinese inhabited program.
