The Shenzhou-21 spacecraft with three astronauts on board was launched into space using a Long March-2F carrier rocket to the Chinese space station Tiangong. This flight set a new speed record – the journey to the orbital station took only 3.5 hours. This is three hours less than in previous manned missions, reports Phys.
After docking, the three astronauts went aboard the Tiangong station. The new crew, which included Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, replaced the team of the previous mission “Shenzhou-20”. Zhang Lu already had experience in orbit – in 2022 he participated in the mission “Shenzhou-15”. For the other two, the flight was their debut. 32-year-old Wu Fei became the youngest Chinese astronaut to visit space.
The new crew will stay on the station for about six months. During this time, the astronauts plan to conduct 27 scientific experiments in the fields of biotechnology, space medicine, materials science and other areas.
Four mice – two males and two females – went into orbit for the first time with humans. Their task is to help study the effects of weightlessness and the space environment on small mammals. According to Chinese scientists, these experiments should contribute to the development of technologies necessary for breeding animals in space. The mice will remain on the station for five to seven days, after which they will return to Earth on the “Shenzhou-20” spacecraft.
The construction of the “Tiangong” orbital station was completed in October 2022. Due to the US decision, made for national security reasons, China does not participate in the International Space Station program, so it has created its own orbital base. So far, only Chinese astronauts have visited the station, but in the future Beijing plans to invite a foreign participant for the first time – an astronaut from Pakistan.
