Today, Thursday, China sent a new crew to the Tiangong space station as part of a program that aims to send astronauts to the moon by 2030, Chinese official media reported.
The Shenzhou-18 space mission, which includes three astronauts, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, and the vehicle was installed on a Long March-2F rocket.
China's official Xinhua news agency said the launch was “completely successful.”
The crew is led by astronaut Wei Guangfu, who was previously on the crew of the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft in 2021. The mission also includes astronauts Li Cong and Li Guangsu, who are making their first space flight.
The space agency responsible for manned flights, CMSA, indicated that the crew will remain at the Tiangong station for six months, with the aim of conducting experiments in “the fields of basic microgravity physics, space materials science, space life sciences, space medicine, and space technology.”
The “Tiangong” station is the main project of China's space program, which also succeeded in landing robotic vehicles on the surfaces of Mars and the Moon, and enabled China to become the third country to succeed in sending humans into orbit.
“Tiangong”, which was completed in 2022, is expected to float in space in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 400 to 450 kilometers, for at least ten years.
The space station crew consists of rotating teams of three astronauts.
The new crew will replace the Shenzhou-17 mission crew that was sent to the station last October.
China intends to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and build a base on it.
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