Crew to head for space station module
Astronauts will test technology during three-month stay
China will launch its seventh manned space mission on Thursday morning to send three astronauts to the core module of the nation’s permanent space station, according to a project leader.
Ji Qiming, assistant director of the China Manned Space Agency, told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China that the crew on board the Shenzhou XII spacecraft — Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo — will be taken into space by a Long March 2F carrier rocket at 9:22 am on Thursday at the launch complex and will become the first occupants of the core module after their spacecraft docks with the module, which is traveling in a low-Earth orbit hundreds of kilometers above the ground.
Ji said that during its three-month stay in the module, named Tianhe, or Harmony of Heavens, the all-male crew is tasked with testing and verifying plans, technologies and equipment for crucial elements in the space station’s construction and operation, such as astronauts’ longterm mission arrangements, the lifesupport system, in-orbit resupply and extravehicular activity as well as spacecraft maintenance and repair.
They are also assigned with carrying out other space tasks and experiments.
Ji said that after Nie’s crew finishes its three-month mission, it will return to Shenzhou XII and then depart from Tianhe and return to Earth to land at the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
He noted that Nie, who has already flown twice in space, will be the mission commander, adding that the mission’s alternative crew members are Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu.
Through this mission, the manned space agency will be able to accumulate experience and check the capability, performance and compatibility of systems involved in the space station program, according to the official.
The Long March 2F rocket to be used in the mission started to pump propellants into its fuel tanks on Wednesday morning, he said.
Tianhe was launched by a Long
March 5B heavy-lift rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on April 29. The largest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever built, the module is the first part of the Chinese space station, named Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace.
The module is now connected with the Tianzhou 2 robotic cargo ship, which was launched by a Long March 7 rocket from the Wenchang facility on May 29. The two spacecraft docked with each other the next day.
All pre-launch preparations have so far been completed. The Tianhe-Tianzhou 2 combination is orbiting Earth at an altitude of about 390 kilometers, waiting for astronauts’ arrival, Ji said.
Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Agency, told China Daily in April that the Tianzhou 3 cargo ship will be launched from Wenchang in September to dock with Tianhe. The next month, another three-astronaut team will fly to the core module on Shenzhou XIII to work there for six months.
Responding to China Daily’s question on concerns over debris from rockets and spaceships, Ji said that it is international practice to leave a rocket’s last stage to uncontrolled orbital descent and then atmospheric reentry, stressing that people should not worry about debris from Chinese rockets.
“All of our rockets to be used in the construction of our space station have technologies to ensure their last stage will not explode in orbit, which will create space junk, and most of the stage will burn up during the reentry into the atmosphere. The chances of causing harm to air traffic activities and people and assets on the ground are very low,” he said.
The agency has closely monitored the atmospheric reentry of rockets previously launched and published related information in a timely manner, according to the official.
Nie Haisheng
Major General Nie Haisheng, 56, a native of Hubei province, joined the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in June 1983. A veteran astronaut, he is the incumbent head of the PLA Astronaut Division.
Nie was an experienced pilot in an Air Force fighter jet regiment before being selected in January 1998 as one of the nation’s first astronauts.
He was one of the two alternates to Yang Liwei, who was chosen to conduct China’s first manned spaceflight in October 2003.
In October 2005, Nie performed his first space mission onboard the Shenzhou VI spaceship with Fei Junlong, fulfilling the country’s first multiday crewed spaceflight.
In June 2013, he carried out his second space journey on the 15-day Shenzhou X mission with Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping.
Nie, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo were selected for the Shenzhou XII crew in December 2019.
Liu Boming
Major General Liu Boming, 54, a native of Heilongjiang province, joined the PLA Air Force in June 1985 and served as squadron commander of a fighter jet regiment before becoming one of the founding members of the PLA Astronaut Division in January 1998.
In June 2005, Liu was selected as an alternate for the Shenzhou VI mission’s two-member crew.
In September 2008, he took part in the Shenzhou VII mission with Zhai Zhigang and Jing Haipeng, staying nearly three days in space. During the mission, he assisted Zhai in carrying out the first extravehicular activity by a Chinese astronaut.
Tang Hongbo
Senior Colonel Tang Hongbo, 45, a native of Hunan province, joined the PLA Air Force in September 1995 and was gradually promoted to the post of group commander of a fighter jet regiment.
Tang became a member of the second group of astronauts at the Astronaut Division in May 2010 and was chosen in May 2016 as an alternate to the two-member crew of the Shenzhou XI mission.