A new crew, including the country's youngest astronaut and four laboratory mice, departed for China's space station on Friday, UNN reports with reference to AFP.
Details
The Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-21 mission crew launched at 11:44 PM (15:44 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.
The Tiangong space station, whose crew consists of teams of three astronauts who rotate every six months, is the jewel of China's space program, into which billions of dollars have been invested in an attempt to catch up with the United States and Russia.
China has ambitious plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade and eventually build a base on the lunar surface.
Mission commander and experienced space pilot Zhang Lu is accompanied by 32-year-old flight engineer Wu Fei, the youngest Chinese astronaut to undertake a space mission, and 39-year-old payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang.
The three astronauts bid farewell to colleagues and family members at the remote launch base in the Gobi Desert to a patriotic song performed by an orchestra.
On Thursday, Zhang Lu told reporters that he was confident in his team, which would "return to the homeland and its people with complete success."
Four mice - two males and two females - will join them as test subjects in China's first orbital experiments on rodents.
Shenzhou-21 is expected to dock with Tiangong approximately three and a half hours after liftoff.
• 6312 переглядiв
• 16765 переглядiв
• 6084 переглядiв
• 4559 переглядiв
• 40643 переглядiв
• 9093 переглядiв
• 10194 переглядiв