China launched three Astronauts to its Space Station

• 18 Jun 2021

On 17^th June 2021 China launched three astronauts into space aboard Shenzhou-12, a spacecraft that will dock to the two modules launched earlier.

• It will effectively become another piece of the space station, which is orbiting 242 miles, or 390 kilometers, above Earth. (The International Space Station is slightly higher at 248 miles.)
• The Shenzhou, modeled on the Soviet-era Soyuz spacecraft, though larger, consists of three modules, including a re-entry craft that will bring the astronauts back to Earth.
• A related spacecraft, Shenzhou-5, carried the first Chinese astronaut to space in 2003, making China the only country besides the United States and the Soviet Union and, its successor, Russia, to complete the feat independently.
• China has since carried out five more crewed flights into orbit, the last in 2016.

The Crew

• Maj. Gen. Nie Haisheng is the commander of the three crew mission, other two being Maj. Gen. Liu Boming and Col. Tang Hongbo.

Objective of the Mission

• The crew of Shenzhou-12 is scheduled to spend the next three months in orbit. After that a second crew of three astronauts will replace them.
• The station remains under construction, so the astronauts’ main tasks will effectively be to continue to build it, installing equipment like cameras and testing various functions, including life support and waste management. They are scheduled to conduct two spacewalks as part of that effort.

About China’s Space Station

• The Chinese space station is named Tiangong (meaning Heavenly Palace).
• It is placed in Low Earth Orbit between 340–450 km (210–280 mi) above the Earth. It is closer to earth than the International Space Station.
• The core module of the station - Tianhe ("Harmony of the Heavens") was launched on 29 April 2021.
• The construction of the station marks the third phase of the Tiangong program, building on the experience gained from its precursors, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2.