Spacecraft Shenzhou- 10 settles in Mao’s hometown

The reentry module of China’s manned spacecraft Shenzhou- 10 on Sunday arrived in the hometown of the late Chinese leader Chairman Mao Zedong in Shaoshan, Central China’s Hunan Province, to honor the forerunner of China’s aerospace industry and remind people of the original aspiration that guided China to advance steadily ahead in space.

The module will be exhibited in the local Shaoshan Mao Zedong Memorial Museum, which can meet the temperature and humidity needs of the returned cabin, the Hunan provincial publicity department said.

Yang Guoli, curator of the Mao memorial museum, explained that the exhibition was launched in consideration of the target audience. Out of the 5 million annual visits to the museum and 20 million to the city’s scenic area, 45 percent are middle and primary school students.

The value of China’s aerospace achievements as well as Mao’s spirit, which is manifested in his poem

“We can bring down the moon from the ninth heaven, or catch the giant turtles in the sea,” could have an increased effect when combined with the display of the Shenzhou- 10 return capsule, Yang noted.

On June 11, 2013, three astronauts – Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and the only female astronaut of the mission Wang Yaping – embarked on a journey to the Tiangong- 1 space station on a Long March 2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China’s Gansu Province, thus beginning Shenzhou- 10’ s space adventure.

The 2.6- meter- long, 2.4- meterdiameter craft, with a weight of more than 2 tons, successfully carried out automatic docking with Tiangong- 1 space laboratory on June 13, 2013.

The reentry module separated from Tiangong- 1 on June 25 after spending about two weeks in space. A day later, it landed in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.