China at present has six astronauts in orbit for the primary time because the nation carries out a space station crew handover.
Three astronauts launched aboard the Shenzhou 15 spacecraft on Tuesday (Nov. 29) and docked with the Tiangong space station 6.5 hours later. Chen Dong, commander of the three-person Shenzhou 14 crew already aboard the newly-completed Tiangong, opened the hatch between the space station and spacecraft at 6:33 p.m. EST (2333 GMT).
Chen and colleagues Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe greeted new arrivals Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu with hugs, marking the primary time China has had two crews aboard Tiangong.
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Chinese language media described (opens in new tab) the gathering as a “space reunion,” which culminated within the six astronauts posing for a gaggle video throughout which they stated, “China’s space station is all the time price wanting ahead to.”
With seven crewmembers in regards to the International Space Station, the Chinese language reunion additionally means there are briefly 13 astronauts in orbit on two completely inhabited space stations.
Nevertheless, the Shenzhou 14 crew will not be hanging round in orbit for much longer. Chen, Liu and Cai are anticipated to journey residence on their Shenzhou 14 spacecraft within the subsequent few days after finishing their handover duties. The trio oversaw the arrival of two new modules to Tiangong and launched into three spacewalks throughout their six-month-long mission.
The orbital get-together aboard Tiangong additionally marks the start of Tiangong science operations. The nation plans to maintain Tiangong completely occupied and operational for at the very least a decade. China first envisioned a plan to ship astronauts to space independently and ultimately construct a space station again in 1992.
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