China on Wednesday sent a new trio of astronauts, including the third Chinese woman in space, to its Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”) station, a Shenzhou-19 mission intended in particular to prepare for the sending of a team to the Moon. The major objective of the Asian giant is to land a crew on the lunar star by 2030, then to complete the construction of an international scientific research base there around 2035. The spacecraft was propelled at 4:27 a.m. local time (8:27 p.m. GMT Tuesday) by a Longue-Marche 2F rocket, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (northwest China), according to the official Xinhua news agency. images from state television CCTV. It rose into the night sky, giving off an intense light, AFP journalists noted.
According to the Chinese human spaceflight agency (CMSA), cited by Xinhua, the launch was a “complete success”. The crew is led by 48-year-old Cai Xuzhe. He is accompanied by Song Lingdong, a 34-year-old ex-air force pilot who has never been to space. They will team up with Wang Haoze, 34 years old. The only Chinese space flight engineer, on Wednesday she became the third Chinese woman in space after Liu Yang (2012) and Wang Yaping (2013). “Like everyone, I dream of going to take a look at the space station”declared Ms. Wang during a meeting with the press on Tuesday. “I want to meticulously complete every task and protect our home in space”. Their ship must dock during the day at the Tiangong station, where they will be welcomed by the three astronauts from the previous mission, Shenzhou-18, in orbit since April and who will return to Earth on November 4.
Shenzhou-19 vise “to accumulate additional experience, which is very valuable” for any country with a space program, Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in the United States, told AFP. Know how to manage manned flights “over a long period” et “operate the station” is crucial, Chen Lan, specialist in the Chinese space program, told AFP. Because “China is working hard to land men on the Moon”the “main challenge” of its medium-term manned missions, he emphasizes. China conducts regular crew rotations on Tiangong, approximately every six months. Objective ? Conduct scientific research, carry out maintenance and ensure permanent occupation of the station.
The fruit of billions of euros of investment
The Shenzhou-19 astronauts will remain in orbit until the end of April or early May. They will carry out 86 experiments, particularly in life sciences, materials science, fundamental physics, microgravity or medicine, indicated the space agency responsible for manned flights. The trio will notably be delivered via the Tianzhou-8 cargo ship, which will dock at the station in November, bricks made from components imitating lunar soil, CCTV said. These bricks will be tested in space, in order to evaluate their resistance to extreme conditions (radiation, gravity, temperature, etc.) and to determine whether or not lunar soil can constitute a suitable material for the construction of habitats on the Moon. Due to the high cost of space transportation, Chinese scientists hope to prioritize using this lunar soil for the construction of the future station on the Moon, CCTV reported.
Tiangong is similar in size to the former Russian-Soviet station Mir, but much smaller than the International Space Station (ISS). It is also known as CSS (for «Chinese Space Station» in English). China was partly pushed to build its own orbital laboratory by the United States' refusal to allow it to participate in the ISS. The Asian giant has considerably developed its space programs over the past thirty years, injecting billions of euros into this sector in order to reach the level of the United States, Russia or Europe. In 2019, it landed a spacecraft (the Chang'e-4 probe) on the far side of the Moon, a world first. In 2021, she landed a small robot on Mars. China hopes to use Tiangong for around ten years.
