China has sent a new crew to its Tiangong (Sky Palace) space station. A 60-meter-long, 40-ton Long March 2F rocket carried the three-person team of the “Shenzhou 19” (Magic Ship) mission into space from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in the northwestern Gobi Desert.
A short time later, mission management confirmed the successful launch.
Commander Cai Xuzhe, 48, engineer Wang Haoze, 34, and former air force pilot Song Lingdong, 34, reported that everything was fine. They are expected to dock with the space station about six and a half hours after entering space, according to China’s Manned Space Administration.
The three had previously been selected by the People’s Liberation Army Space Force. In China, human spaceflight is under the control of the military. “I and everyone else dream of visiting the space station,” Wang said. She wants to complete every task well and protect the station.
Includes two newcomers to space
Cai was already in space in 2022 with the ‘Shenzhou 14’ mission. Wang and Song are newbies to the space. There are differences in age and gender, Cai said before leaving. “But we have the same goal, which is to fight for the country,” he continued.
During the six-month stay, the team will conduct 86 experiments. These include experiments on life and medicine in space, physical forces and new technologies, as space agency spokesperson Lin Xiqiang said before the launch.
The scientists hope that the experiments will, among other things, lead to progress in the development of new materials and knowledge about the effects of radiation and weightlessness on the body. The astronauts will also conduct space walks and install space debris protection equipment on the “Tiangong”.
The “Shenzhou 19” replaces the astronauts of the “Shenzhou 18” mission who are currently still on the “Tiangong” and left there at the end of April. The three men will arrive back on Earth on November 4. During their stay, the three fighter pilots also conducted experiments and space walks.
Manned moon mission in 2030
This year, for the first time in human history, Chinese scientists succeeded in transporting soil samples from the difficult-to-reach far side of the moon to Earth. China wants to complete a manned moon mission by 2030. Authority spokesman Lin emphasized that ongoing developments and testing were proceeding as planned. The first astronauts were already training for the moon mission and learning how to pilot the spaceship and operate the lunar rover.
Source: Krone
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