Female crew member among 3 astronauts set for space station
Print Edition
CHINA will send three astronauts to an unfinished space station tomorrow, including the first female crew member. They will stay at the station for six months.
It will be the second of four planned crewed missions to the station, which is due to be completed by the end of next year. The first crew who served a 90-day mission aboard the main Tianhe core module of the space station returned in mid-September.
The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft will be launched on a Long March-2F rocket at 12:23am tomorrow from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China, Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, told reporters.
Zhai Zhigang, 55, who performed China’s first spacewalk in 2008, will be the mission commander for Shenzhou-13, Lin said.
Zhai will be accompanied by Wang Yaping, 41, and Ye Guangfu, 41. Wang will be the first female astronaut to visit the Chinese station.
Zhai said the main challenges for the astronauts will include “more complex” spacewalks than previous missions and the extra physical and mental pressure of living in space for a longer period.
But the crew “had the confidence and ability” to achieve their objectives and “live up to the great trust placed in us by the motherland and the people,” he added at a separate press conference yesterday.
The mission, known as Shenzhou-13, meaning “Divine Vessel” in Chinese, will be Zhai and Wang’s second space mission and Ye’s first. It will set a record for the most time spent in space by Chinese astronauts.
The ground team will optimize their menu and provide psychological support based on the monthly assessment of the astronauts’ status, said Lin of the CMSA.
He noted that six months will be a regular duration for following Chinese astronauts to work and live in the space station.
The Long March-2F carrier rocket is being filled with propellant, Lin said.
“All systems conducting the Shenzhou-13 mission have undergone a comprehensive rehearsal. The flight crew is in good condition and our pre-launch preparations are in order.”
The mission is expected to continue the work of the initial crew, who conducted two spacewalks and deployed a 10-meter mechanical arm.
The Shenzhou-13 crew’s scheduled activities include up to three spacewalks to install equipment in preparation for expanding the station, verifying living conditions in the module and conducting experiments in space medicine and other areas, Lin said.
The female taikonaut Wang will give a lesson while in orbit — for a second time. Wang earned the title of China’s first space teacher after delivering a televised science lecture to an audience of over 60 million schoolchildren during the Shenzhou-10 space mission in June 2013.
She will also be the first Chinese female astronaut to carry out extravehicular activities.
China began construction of what will be its first permanent space station in April with the launch of Tianhe, the first and largest of the station’s three modules.
When completed with the addition of two more modules — named Mengtian and Wentian — the station will weigh about 66 tons.
Lin said the two additional modules would be sent before the end of next year during the stay of the yet-to-be-named Shenzhou-14 crew.
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