China sends 2nd crewed mission to build space station

JIUQUAN (Gansu) • China launched a rocket carrying three astronauts - two men and a woman - to the core module of a future space station where they will live and work for six months, the longest orbit for Chinese astronauts.

A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft - the name of which means Divine Vessel - blasted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the north-western province of Gansu at 12.23am yesterday.

The vessel successfully docked at the port of the space station just over six hours later at 6.56am, and the astronauts entered the station's core module at 10.03am, said the China Manned Space Agency.

China began constructing the space station, Tiangong, in April with the launch of Tianhe - the first and largest of the station's three modules. Slightly bigger than a city bus, Tianhe will be the living quarters of the completed space station.

Shenzhou-13 is the second of four crewed missions needed to complete the space station by the end of next year. During the first crewed mission, which concluded last month, three other astronauts stayed on Tianhe for 90 days.

In the latest mission, the astronauts will carry out tests of the key technologies and robotics on Tianhe needed to assemble the space station, verify on-board life support systems and conduct a host of scientific experiments.

The mission commander is Mr Zhai Zhigang, 55, from China's first batch of astronaut trainees in the late 1990s. Born to a rural family with six children, Mr Zhai carried out China's first spacewalk in 2008. Shenzhou-13 is his second space mission.

"The most challenging task will be the long-term stay in orbit for six months," he told a news conference on Thursday. "It will exact higher demands (on us), both physically and psychologically."

He was accompanied by Ms Wang Yaping and Mr Ye Guangfu, both 41.

Ms Wang, also born to a rural family, is known among colleagues for her tenacity. The former air force pilot first travelled to space in 2013, to Tiangong-1, a prototype space laboratory. She is China's second female astronaut in space, following Ms Liu Yang in 2012.

Meanwhile, Shenzhou-13 is the first space mission for Mr Ye.

The space agency will have another spacecraft on standby for launch at short notice in case of an emergency at the Tiangong.

In addition to doing hundreds of aerospace medicine and physics experiments during their stay, the astronauts will also do two to three spacewalks and install new robotic arms to help with future construction operations.

In February, the crew will also become the first Chinese astronauts to celebrate Chinese New Year in space. Festive supplies were sent up in a delivery last month.

After the crew returns to Earth in April next year, China plans to deploy six more missions, including deliveries of the second and third space station modules and two final crewed missions.

China, barred by US law from working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and, by extension, on the International Space Station (ISS), has spent the past decade developing technologies to build its own.

With the ISS set to retire in a few years, China's space station will become the only one in Earth's orbit.

China's space programme has come far since late leader Mao Zedong lamented that the country could not even launch a potato into space. It became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket, in October 2003, following the former Soviet Union and the United States.

REUTERS