Tiangong space station

Chinese Astronauts Conduct First Spacewalk at New Space Station

July 9, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article from Agence-France Presse July 4, 2021 (theguardian.com)

• In June, three Chinese astronauts blasted off to become the first crew of the new Tiangong space station in orbit around Earth, where they will remain for three months in China’s longest crewed mission to date. On July 4th, two of the astronauts conducted the first of two seven-hour spacewalks to work on assembling the Tiangong space station. Fueled in part by a U.S. ban on Chinese astronauts on the International Space Station, the construction of the Tiangong space station is a significant step in China’s ambitious space program.

• China previously landed a rover on Mars and sent probes to the Moon. This is China’s first crewed mission into space in nearly five years, and the first time since 2008 that Chinese astronauts have gone outside their spacecraft. China is the third country to complete a spacewalk after the Soviet Union and the US. This is a matter of huge prestige as the country marks the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist party this month with a massive propaganda campaign.

• In this first spacewalk, astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo were tasked with elevating a panoramic camera outside the Tianhe core module and testing the station’s robotic arm which will be used to transfer future modules around the station. The astronauts also installed foot stops on the robotic arm and carried out other assembly work. The crew underwent more than 6,000 hours of training in preparation.

• In a video clip, Liu and Tang were shown opening a hatch and exiting the module separately, wearing newly developed suits. They were supported from inside the station by the mission commander, Nie Haisheng, a decorated air force pilot who is on his third space mission. The video clip showed Liu leaving the cabin, exclaiming: “Wow, it’s too beautiful out here.” The Chinese space agency is planning a total of eleven launches through to the end of next year, including three more crewed missions. They will deliver two more lab modules to expand the station, along with supplies.

• Chinese state television showed footage of the astronauts’ daily lives on Tiangong, including setting up an exercise bike and working out on a treadmill. One crew member was shown eating with chopsticks; another did a handstand and somersault after mealtime. The televised spacewalk garnered 200 million views on China’s social media platform Weibo. One user wrote: “How much I’m moved by each step of achievement is beyond words.”

• President Xi Jinping has said the construction of China’s first space station is opening “new horizons” in humanity’s attempts to explore the cosmos. The Tiangong space station is expected to have a lifespan of at least ten years, and China has said it would be open to international collaboration on the station. The U.S.-run International Space Station is due for retirement after 2024, although NASA says it could remain functional beyond 2028.

Chinese astronauts have performed the country’s first tandem spacewalk, working for seven hours on the outside of the new Tiangong station in orbit around Earth.

Tiangong’s construction is a significant step in China’s ambitious space programme. China has previously landed a rover on Mars and sent probes to the moon.

Last month, three astronauts blasted off to become the first crew of the station, where they will remain for three months in China’s longest crewed mission to date. On Sunday morning, two of them left the station for about seven hours of work in the first spacewalk at Tiangong, the China Manned Space Agency said.

“The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the complete success of the first spacewalk in our country’s space station construction,” the agency said.

Their tasks included elevating a panoramic camera outside the Tianhe core module and testing the station’s robotic arm, which will be used to transfer future modules around the station, state media said. The astronauts installed foot stops on the robotic arm and, with its support, carried out other assembly work, the space agency added.

In a video clip of Liu leaving the cabin, he exclaimed: “Wow, it’s too beautiful out here.”

Liu and Tang were shown opening a hatch and exiting the module separately, wearing newly developed suits said to weigh 130kg (20st). They were supported from inside the station by the mission commander, Nie Haisheng, a decorated air force pilot who is on his third space mission.

This was the first of two spacewalks planned for the mission, both expected to last six or seven hours. It was the first time since 2008 that Chinese astronauts have gone outside their spacecraft. Back then, Zhai Zhigang made China the third country to complete a spacewalk after the Soviet Union and the US.

This is China’s first crewed mission in nearly five years, and a matter of huge prestige as the country marks the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist party this month with a massive propaganda campaign. To prepare, the crew underwent more than 6,000 hours of training.

2:49 minute video pf first spacewalk on the Chinese space station,
July 4, 2021 (‘SciNews’ YouTube)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

‘Divine Vessel’ Rocket Launches China’s First Human Spaceflight Since 2016

June 22, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Janis Mackey Frayer June 17, 2021 (nbcnews.com)

• On June 17th, the Chinese Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station that China is currently building. It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space. (see 1:07 minute video of launch below)

• Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton ‘Tiangong’ or “Harmony of the Heavens” space station that should be up and running by next year. The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

• “I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at an earlier news conference. “Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream.”

• The 20 year-old International Space Station, or ISS, which has hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. China has long been frozen out of and ISS mission due to American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its own military. Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

• The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station. “All the firsts that the U.S. and the USSR did in the Cold War, China is just ticking them off,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “Now they’re at the point where they’re starting to think, ‘OK, we’re not just copying the West anymore, we’re going to start doing our own thing’. And that’s going to be very interesting to watch.”

• On the day before the launch, the three Chinese astronauts (pictured above) met with reporters from inside a germ-free glass chamber. Veteran Nie Haisheng, 56, was looking forward to his third trip to space, while Liu Boming, 54, took part in a 2011 mission that included China’s first spacewalk. They were joined by 40-year-old Tang Hongbo, who was looking forward to his first journey up to the stars, having been selected for training in 2010.

• After Tianhe’s main module was successfully launched last month, state media reported that President Xi Jinping wrote a letter to congratulate Chinese engineers for a breakthrough that earned a place in the nation’s history. NASA and others scolded Beijing for acting recklessly by allowing a rocket booster from that mission to fall to Earth in a seemingly uncontrolled manner.

• The Shenzhou-12’s launch was covered on state television and celebrated as a matter of prestige ahead of the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary next month. For Xi, the space station holds symbolic value in his vision of his country as “a space power in all respects.”

• But as China pours billions of dollars into its space programs, including an exploration of the dark side of the Moon and its recent landing of a rover on Mars, some analysts fear that its lack of international coordination is creating a dangerously competitive playing field in space. “There is no doubt the U.S. is the most advanced,” Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency told NBC News. “Regardless of scale, China develops space programs out of our country’s own need … to fulfil our own dream.”

JIUQUAN, China — A Chinese rocket blasted off from a launch pad in the Gobi Desert on Thursday, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station China is building.

Fire and huge clouds of dust could be seen in the distance when the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule roared away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, as China’s space race with the United States and Russia continues to gather pace.

It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space.

For Rong Yi, the rocket’s chief designer, it was hard to see it go.

“We have invested so much energy,” she told NBC News, likening the rocket to raising a child. “But I am thrilled to see it fulfill its duty within 10 minutes.”

**China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming**

Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton Tiangong or Harmony of the Heavens space station that is set to be up and running by next year.

The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months — China’s longest crewed mission yet — to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

“I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at a news conference Wednesday ahead of the launch.

**Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency**

“Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream,” he said.

China has long been frozen out of the International Space Station, or ISS, a project launched 20 years ago that has served as the ultimate expression of post-Cold War reconciliation between Russia and the United States. American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its military were largely responsible for that.

But the aging ISS that hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. As broader U.S.-Russia relations deteriorate, Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station.

1:06 minute video of the launch of the Long March-2F rocket
carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule (‘NBC News’ YouTube)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

China Completes Another Part of Its Own Space Station

June 15, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Arjun Kharpal May 31, 2021 (cnbc.com)

• On May 30th, the China Manned Space Agency’s Long March 7 rocket carried the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft (pictured above) into orbit from the Wenchang island launch site (in Hainan province). The Tianzhou-2 then successfully docked with the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station. The Tiangong space station will be made of three modules, including the Tianhe “core”, the Tianzhou-2 and laboratories.

• Over the next two years, China will carry out eleven missions to complete the construction of the space station, and to bring astronauts and supplies up as well. The Tiangong space station is expected to be operational by 2022.

• The Tianzhou-2 carried up astronaut supplies including space suits and food, paving the way for China to launch astronauts to the space station. Shredded pork and kung pao chicken are among the food items transported to space, the Xinhua news agency reported.

• The Tiangong space station will rival the International Space Station, a co-operative effort between the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. China is not involved. Beijing has put a lot of emphasis on ambitious space projects. Last year, China completed its global navigation system called Beidou, a rival to the U.S. government-owned Global Positioning System (GPS). And an unmanned Chinese spacecraft landed successfully on Mars.

GUANGZHOU, China — China has completed another major part of its own space

station, the latest in a string of ambitious extraterrestrial projects from the world’s second-largest economy.

The Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft took off at 8:55 p.m. local time on Saturday from the Wenchang launch site, according to the China Manned Space agency.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Tianzhou-2 docked with the core module of the space station called Tianhe.

**a Chinese astronaut or ‘yuhangyuans’ or sometimes ‘taikonauts’**

China’s space station will be made of three modules which includes the Tianhe “core,” cargo spacecraft such as Tianzhou-2 and laboratories. China will carry out 11 missions this year and next to complete the construction of the space station, and

bring astronauts and supplies up too. The space station is expected to go into operation in 2022.

The docking of Tianzhou-2 has paved the way for China to launch astronauts to the space station. The cargo spacecraft carried up astronaut supplies including space suits and food. Shredded pork and kung pao chicken are among the food items transported to space, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China’s first self-developed space station will rival the International Space Station, which is a co-operative effort between the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. China is not involved.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Tag: Tiangong space station

Chinese Astronauts Conduct First Spacewalk at New Space Station

‘Divine Vessel’ Rocket Launches China’s First Human Spaceflight Since 2016

China Completes Another Part of Its Own Space Station