A Chinese rocket that transported three astronauts to the country’s space station shot from its remote launch site on Thursday, the last milestone in Beijing’s career to become a leading heavenly power.
Beijing has pumped billions of dollars to its space program in recent years in an effort to achieve what President Xi Jinping describes as the “space sleep” of the Chinese people.
The second largest economy in the world has bold plans to send a manned mission to the moon at the end of the decade and, finally, build a base on the lunar surface.
The launch of Thursday of the Shenzhou-20 mission is intended to transport a team of three astronauts to the Tiangong Space Station of China.
The LEV-2F rocket rose in the air in a column of flames and smoke at the Jiuquan satellite launch base in the northwest China desert, AFP The journalists saw, announcing the beginning of the six -month mission.
Leading the new crew is Chen Dong, 46, a former combat pilot and veteran space explorer who in 2022 became the first Chinese astronaut to register more than 200 cumulative days in orbit.
The other two crew members, the former 40 -year -old Air Force driver, Chen Zhongrui, and former 35 -year -old space technology engineer Wang Jie, are embarking on his first space flight.
Hundreds of people who brandish national pm national branches and flags
A band played an exciting military march like the trio, dressed in white space suits, waved in front of a red banner that proclaimed: “Learn from our astronauts! Greet our astronauts!”
“We wish you success!” The crowd shouted in unison when the crew members passed.
The live images on state television showed the three astronauts transported by bus to the launch site, beyond which large sections of empty desert could be seen.
The crew will work in Tiangong for six months, carrying out experiments in physics and life sciences and installing space waste protection equipment.
For the first time, they will also bring on board the planaries, the aquatic flat worms known for their regenerative skills.
The team will also perform space walks, will replace the supplies and carry out general maintenance at the space station.
Currently, three astronauts aboard Tiangong will return to Earth on April 29 after completing the delivery procedures.
Space enthusiast buses waited for a sterile road for several hours before Thursday’s launch, challenging the high sun of the desert to take a look at the cohete perched on the horizon.
A kiosk next to the entrance of the launch base made a quick exchange of toys and memories rockets with mission theme.
Crown jewel
During a tour of the government on Wednesday afternoon, AFP The journalists saw the rocket installed in a blue sky launch tower, surrounded by red flags when workers in blue monkeys did the final controls before the launch.
China’s space program is the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed rootic roots in Mars and the Moon, since it seeks parity with the two most established heavenly powers in the world, the United States and Russia.
Blutary of rotating teams of three astronauts every six months, Tiangong, whose name means “Celestial Palace” in Chinese, is the jewel in its crown.
China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011, when the United States prohibited NASA from collaborating with Beijing.
Since then, he has tried to bring other countries to his space program, and signed an agreement with Ally Pakistan for a long time in February to bring the first foreign astronaut aboard Tiangong.
As part of this process, “two Pakistani astronauts will be selected to come to China to train,” the CMSA confirmed on Wednesday.
