Marrakesh, 7 Mar. (Maroc-Actu) –
China is confident that its space station, Tiangong, will host six astronauts on two spacecraft by the end of 2022, according to the chief designer of the country’s manned space program.
Currently, the three crew members of the Shenzhou-13 mission have been in orbit for 140 days.. They are in good health and have so far completed all scheduled tasks or added as needed. They are expected to return to Earth in mid-April, Zhou Jianping said, quoted by Xinhua.
This year, China will launch two laboratory modules for the space station, two manned spacecraft and two cargo vessels. The Shenzhou-14 crew will witness the arrival of two lab modules during its stay in orbit, Zhou said.
The Shenzhou-15 crew will fly to the space station before the end of the year and join the Shenzhou-14 crew in space.. At that time, the space station will consist of three modules, two manned spacecraft and a cargo ship, with a total mass of almost 100 tonsZhou said.
The space station will carry a large number of high-level space experimentation devices covering areas such as life sciences, biological science, materials science, combustion science, microgravity fluid science and basic physics, he said.
