China launching first crew to its own space station on Thursday
- Reference: 1623826685
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/16/china_tiangong_space_station_first_crew/
- Source link:
State-run media has named the three taikonauts as Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo. Nie will command the mission and make his third journey into space.
The crew will stay aloft for three months and work on China’s Tiangong space station, the first module of which — named “Tianhe” — launched in [1]April 2021 . It caused a kerfuffle when bits of the rocket that carried it made an [2]uncontrolled re-entry that just missed the Maldives.
[3]
In late May, China launched the Tianzhou-2 rocket carrying propellant, food and other supplies for this week’s mission. The rocket docked with Tianhe, and also sent home debris that spent [4]two weeks on its way back to Earth before a few fragments are thought to have reached the Pacific Ocean.
[5]Roam if you want to: China’s Zhurong rover begins trundling on Mars
[6]Pics or it didn't happen: First images from China's Mars rover suggest nothing has gone Zhurong just yet
[7]The Starship has landed. Latest SpaceX test comes back to Earth without igniting fireballs
[8]China sprayed space with 3,000 pieces of junk. US military officials want rules to stop that sort of thing
Tianhe is 16.6 metres long and 4.2 metres in diameter, and houses all the life support kit that the crew will need to live in space for three months. China plans to bolt more modules onto the space station, but this week’s crew will have to make do with Tianhe, the Tianzhou-2 cargo module and their own craft.
China’s space station construction plan calls for a dozen launches, four of them crewed, stretching into 2022.
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The mission logo for the Shenzhou-12 mission that will take three Chinese astronauts to space this week. Click to enlarge
Tiangong — which translates as “Heavenly Palace” — will be about one fifth the size of the International Space Station, and have an expected useful life of ten years. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/29/tianhe_tiangong_3_launch/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/10/long_march_misses_people/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YMnLv7bK47rfPH6kqszMuAAAAIU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] http://www.cmse.gov.cn/xwzx/yzjz/202106/t20210615_48109.html
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/24/zhurong_on_the_move/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/19/china_mars/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/06/spacex_starship_lands_without_exploding/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/07/space_debris_regulation/
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/06/16/handout_china_shenzou_12_mission_patch.jpg
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Uncomfortable
This news actually made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Although China's progress in space has been extraordinary recently there have been quite a few dramatic failures plus the suspicion of others that have been covered up. (the sudden switches between very public announcements and then silence feeds this narrative whether it is actually true or not)
This is an exceptionally adventurous programme of long duration crewed flights and high risk crew activities which feels to me that they are jumping straight into rather than working up to more incrementally.
I really hope I'm wrong about this and that it is a great success but my first feeling on reading this article was fear that this could be leading to more traumatic news later on.
On the other hand, no space programme is cast in stone and this is just an announcement (so an element or PR is involved) and subsequent missions can obviously be delayed or adjusted if necessary. And perhaps this is also a marker of fully justified self-confidence from China's space agency - it is entirely possible that the secrecy can work both ways and the successes and milestones that would normally be expected prior to such an ambitious programme have occurred but not been publicised so much.
Better not be claustrophobic
" this week’s crew will have to make do with Tianhe, the Tianzhou-2 cargo module and their own craft "
That's going to feel mighty cramped for a 3-month stay.