June 17, 2021: The first astronauts for China’s new space station blasted off Thursday for the country’s longest crewed mission to date, a landmark step in establishing Beijing as a major space power.
The trio launched on a Long March-2F rocket for the Tiangong station, where they will spend three months, in a blast-off broadcast live on state TV. Lift-off happened at 9:22 am (0122 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch centre in northwest China’s Gobi desert, with the rocket lifting off in clouds of smoke against a blue sky.
At a pre-explosion ceremony, the three astronauts, already in their space suits, greeted a crowd of supporters, including the space station’s family and staff. Crowds of astronauts and their families gathered for the event, waving Chinese flags and flowers and singing the patriotic song “Without the Chinese Communist Party, there will be no new China.” Li Shengfu, commander-in-chief of the Chinese-administered space program, greeted the three and wished them well. Prior to the launch, state broadcaster CCTV showed a live feed from inside the spacecraft, which the three astronauts awaiting launch put in their positions and read through some papers.
Shenzhou-12 spacecraft will land in the central part of the space station, which was orbited on April 29. The module has separate accommodation for each of them, a treadmill for exercise, and a communication center for ground-controlled emails and video calls. This is China’s first staff mission in almost five years. The launch represents a moment of great prestige in China, as Beijing prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party on July 1 with a massive propaganda campaign.
To prepare for the mission, the crew has received over 6,000 hours of training, including hundreds of underground Somersaults in full spare gear. The commander of the mission is Ni Hashing, an Air Force pilot in the People’s Liberation Army who has already served in two space missions. The other two members are also members of the army. The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 launches by the end of next year, including three more missions that will provide two lab modules to increase the station’s capacity to 70 tons, and supply and crew members.
The first crew will test and monitor the spacecraft’s operating system, run spacewalks and conduct scientific experiments. The US ban on US astronauts on the International Space Station between the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan has strengthened China’s space ambitions to some extent. It is due to retire after 2024, although NASA has said it could potentially operate after 2028. Tiangong will be much younger than the ISS, and is expected to be at least 10 years old.
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