China sent a new trio of astronauts to its Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”) station during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, November 30, a mission called “Shenzhou-19” intended in particular to prepare the sending of a team to the Moon. . The great objective of the Asian giant is to take a crew to the lunar star by 2030 and then complete the construction of an international scientific research base there by 2035.
The spacecraft was launched at 04:27 local time on Wednesday by a Longue-Marche 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (northwest China), according to the official Xinhua news agency and images from state television CCTV. It rose into the night sky, emitting an intense light, journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) observed. According to the Chinese manned space agency (CMSA), cited by Xinhua, the launch was a “total success”.
The crew is led by 48-year-old Cai Xuzhe. He is accompanied by Song Lingdong, a 34-year-old former air force pilot who has never been to space. They will team up with 34-year-old Wang Haoze. The only Chinese spaceflight engineer, she became the third Chinese woman in space on Wednesday.
Bricks imitating the lunar soil.
Their ship must dock during the day at the Tiangong station, where they will be received by the three astronauts from the previous mission in orbit since April and who will return to Earth on November 4. China conducts regular crew rotations at Tiangong, approximately every six months. Aim ? Conduct scientific research, perform maintenance and ensure permanent occupation of the station.
The Shenzhou-19 astronauts will remain in orbit until late April or early May. They will carry out 86 experiments, particularly in life sciences, materials science, fundamental physics, microgravity or medicine, detailed the space agency responsible for manned flights. The trio will receive, in particular, via the Tianzhou-8 cargo ship, which will dock at the station in November, bricks made with components that imitate the lunar soil, according to CCTV.
These bricks will be tested in space to evaluate their resistance to extreme conditions (radiation, gravity, temperature, etc.) and determine whether 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 the use of 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). China was forced in part to build its own orbital laboratory due to the United States’ refusal to allow it to participate in the ISS.
The Asian giant has considerably developed its space programs over the last thirty years, injecting billions of euros into this sector to reach the level of the United States, Russia or Europe. In 2019, China landed a spacecraft (the Chang’e-4 probe) on the far side of the Moon, a world first. It also landed a small robot on Mars in 2021.
