China Launches Expedition to Space Station
On Thursday, China dispatched a new team to its Tiangong space station, marking another milestone in its expanding space program, which aims to send astronauts to the Moon within the next decade.
Shenzhou-17 blasted off from the Jiuquan launch site in northwest China at 11:14 a.m. (0314 GMT) carrying a team of three astronauts, the youngest average age since the space station was built.
At the farewell ceremony, hundreds of supporters waved the Chinese national flag and clutched yellow flowers to cheer on the three astronauts, who wore white and blue spacesuits, as they were introduced to the public.
The patriotic song “Ode to the Fatherland” was sung as the space travelers slowly walked the short path through the crowds, smiling and waving goodbye before boarding a bus to the launch site.
The crew is captained by Tang Hongbo, who is on his first return trip to the space station.
He is accompanied by Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, both in their thirties and maiden spacewalkers.
The all-male crew is the youngest ever crew on the space station, with an average age of 38.
They are to “conduct various space science and application payload tests and experiments in orbit,” Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of China’s manned space agency, said on Wednesday.
They are also doing some maintenance work on the station to repair “minor damage” from space debris, he said.
“We have found that the solar wings of the space station had been hit by small space particles several times,” Lin explained.
– Gobi launch –
Members of the previous Shenzhou-16 crew – now in Tiangong for nearly five months – are preparing to receive the trio before returning to Earth next week.
Hundreds of spectators gathered near the rocket site at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Thursday morning, some wearing the blue uniforms of the Chinese Space Agency.
Excitement erupted through the crowd as a loudspeaker blared the countdown and the rocket took off, sending plumes of smoke onto the launch pad and across the dry, flat desert surrounding the area, before the ever-increasing roar of the engines drowned out the applause.
The live broadcast showed the crew on the space station monitoring their ascent, awaiting their arrival.
After the rocket had been in the air for about 15 minutes, a space program official declared the launch a “complete success.”
The Tiangong, the crown jewel of Beijing’s space program, is constantly employed by rotating crews of three astronauts.
– Dream of space –
Plans for China’s “space dream” have been kicked into overdrive under President Xi Jinping.
The world’s second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its military space program in an effort to catch up with the United States and Russia.
In June, the return capsule of the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft hit the landing site in the northern Inner Mongolia region, and state media hailed the mission as a “complete success.”
The same month also saw the launch of the Shenzhou-16 capsule, which carried the first Chinese civilian – Beihang University professor Gui Haichao – into orbit.
That crew will return to Earth on Oct. 31 after the handover, officials said Wednesday.
Beijing also plans to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030 and plans to build a base on the lunar surface.
Vice President Lin reiterated that goal on Wednesday, saying that “the goal of landing Chinese on the moon by 2030 is on schedule.”
