China sends 3 astronauts to new space station

Astronaut Chen Dong (43 years old) and teammates Liu Yang (43 years old), Cai Xuzhe (46 years old) will stay at Tiangong, the space station China is building, for 6 months to complete the assembly. , test and operate critical equipment.

Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou-14 mission.

On June 5 (local time), China launched the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft, bringing 3 astronauts to the Tiangong space station to carry out a 6-month mission on this space station.

According to the plan, these 3 astronauts will coordinate with the control center on the ground to complete the assembly and construction of Thien Cung from a space station with only one module into a national space laboratory of 3. module: Thien Hoa core module and 2 experimental modules Wentian and Mong Thien.

The China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) said that the Long March-2F rocket carrying Shenzhou-14 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China at 10:44 am on June 5. (local time). About 577 seconds after launch, the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft separated from the rocket and entered the intended orbit.

Previously, at a press conference on June 4, CMSA Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang said that the astronauts on the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft will coordinate with the control center on the ground to complete the docking. 2 lab modules with core modules.

The Thien Hoa module was launched in April 2021, while the Wen Tian module is expected to be launched to the Thien Cung station in July and the Mong Thien module will be launched to this space station in October this year.

During their stay at the Tiangong station, the group of astronauts aboard Shenzhou-14 will see the cargo spaceship Tianzhou-5 and the Shenzhou-15 docking with the Tianhe module. They will then live and work with the crew of Shenzhou-15 for several days before returning to Earth in December of this year.

China first sent a man into space in 2003. It sent a probe to the Moon in December 2020 and another probe to Mars in May 2021. The first module of Thien Cung Space Station will be assembled in April 2021.