On April 25, 2024, China achieved another milestone in space exploration. It successfully sent its seventh crew to the Tiangong space station. The Long March 2F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 8:59 a.m. EDT (1259 GMT or 8:59 p.m. Beijing Time).
The rocket took the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft and its three crew members into orbit. After 10 minutes of flight, the Shenzhou spacecraft separated from the rocket. This event signaled a successful launch, according to the China National Space Administration.
There are three astronauts on the spacecraft. They are Commander Ye Guangfu and fighter pilots Li Cong and Li Guangsu. Commander Ye was on the Shenzhou 13 mission from 2021 to 2022. Both Li Cong and Li Guangsu are new to spaceflight. They plan to stay in space for about six months.
The first spaceflight for me was full of excitement as I fulfilled my dream, along with curiosity and expectation, while this spaceflight is more like a mission — responsibility, test and duty, Ye said ahead of launch.
The spacecraft is set to reach the Tiangong space station in roughly 6.5 hours. Upon arrival, the new crew will meet Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin. These three astronauts are from the Shenzhou 17 mission and have completed a six-month stint in space. They will soon return to Earth. Before they leave, they will give control of the Tiangong space station to the arriving Shenzhou 18 crew.
The Shenzhou 18 crew has several tasks planned for their mission. They will deliver live science lectures to school children in China. They will perform spacewalks and carry out science experiments.
The Shenzhou 18 astronauts will carry out six cargo outbound deliveries via the station’s cargo airlock module and implement two to three extravehicular activities, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency.
Seventh Crew to the Tiangong Space Station
The supplies for the mission were delivered by the robotic Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft in January. Another cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 8, is expected to arrive at Tiangong around August with fresh supplies, equipment, and experiments.
The Long March 2F rocket is nearly ready at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It will carry out the Shenzhou 19 mission later this year. In an emergency, this rocket could act as a lifeboat for the mission.
China started building its Tiangong space station in 2021. It finished the T-shaped, three-module station by the end of 2022. Since finishing, it has housed groups of three astronauts for six months each. China aims to have the station continuously lived in for at least ten years. They are thinking about adding more modules and allowing commercial activities there.
Source: Yahoo! News
