Tag: Shenzhou
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Shenzhou-13 mission ends with safe return of Chinese taikonaut trio
The Chinese Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and its crew of three taikonauts ended their six-month mission with a return to Earth on Saturday, 16 April after completing the first long-duration stay aboard the Chinese Space Station. The spacecraft undocked and began the trip home on Friday, 15 April, ahead of reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Touchdown occurred at…
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Shenzhou-13 crew conducts second spacewalk of mission
The Shenzhou-13 crew has conducted the second EVA of its mission, with taikonauts Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu exiting the Tianhe core module to conduct a six-hour spacewalk. Meanwhile, Wang Yaping stayed inside the station to assist, over a month after she became the first Chinese woman to walk outside her spacecraft. During the EVA,…
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Wang Yaping becomes the first Chinese woman to walk in space
On November 7, Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping conducted the first spacewalk for the Shenzhou-13 mission at the Chinese Space Station. The extravehicular activity (EVA) was the first for a Chinese woman and successfully installed new hardware on the exterior of the Tianhe core module. The extravehicular activity began when Wang Yaping and…
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Shenzhou 13 launches first long-duration Chinese Space Station crew
After a successful launch to the new Chinese Space Station earlier this year and the initial 90-day “shakedown cruise” of the Shenzhou 12 crew, three taikonauts launched to the station aboard the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft to begin the first long-duration stay aboard. Shenzhou 13 launched atop a Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F) rocket at 16:23 UTC…
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Chinese Space Station taikonauts conduct second spacewalk
The crew of Shenzhou-12 has conducted the second spacewalk of the mission, and the second spacewalk of the new Chinese Space Station’s lifetime. The extravehicular activity (EVA) comes two months into their planned 90-day mission in low Earth orbit. Mission commander Nie Haisheng and first operator Liu Boming exited the Tianhe core module at 00:38…
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Taikonauts complete second Chinese spacewalk, first in support of Space Station construction
Taikonauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo have successfully conducted the second ever Chinese Extravehicular Activity (EVA), or spacewalk, and the first in a series to support of the construction of the newly launched Chinese Space Station (CSS). The EVA began on July 4 at 00:11 UTC and completed at 06:57 UTC, for a total duration…
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Shenzhou-12 and three crew members successfully launch to new Chinese space station
The first crewed mission to the new Chinese Space Station has successfully launched. Shenzhou-12, carrying three taikonauts, lifted off on Thursday June 17 at 01:22 UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northwest China. Shenzhou-12 launched on top of the human-rated Long March 2F vehicle, which is based on the…
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China preparing to build Tiangong station in 2021, complete by 2022
China is gearing up for its next big leap in space exploration: the construction of its modular crewed space station, the Tiangong. Starting in 2021, the construction of the Tiangong orbital space station is expected to be complete in 2022 after eleven missions, including three launches of different modules, four launches of cargo vehicles and…
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Tianzhou-1 – China launches and docks debut cargo resupply
China is taking another significant step on the road towards a permanent presence in space, following the Long March 7 (TZ-1) launch of Tianzhou-1 – the first Chinese logistics cargo vehicle. The launch took place at 11:40:45 UTC on Thursday from the LC201 Launch Complex at the Wenchang Space Launch Center, followed by docking on…
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Two Chinese astronauts back on Earth
China’s spacecraft recovery team works around the Shenzhou 11 landing capsule Friday after its touchdown in Inner Mongolia. Credit: Xinhua Two Chinese astronauts closed out a month in space Friday with a parachute-assisted landing in northern China’s remote Inner Mongolia territory, a day after the crew departed the Tiangong 2 space lab to begin the…