China continues to develop programs for the exploration of near space. According to the Global Times, On Tuesday, the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft was successfully launched with three taikonauts (astronauts) on board. Long March-2F Y15 launch vehicle launched from the center of Jiuquan, located in the Gobi Desert in Gansu Province in northwest China.
China National Space Administration announces successful completion of 11th spacecraft launch mission, which became the final stage in the construction of the three-module Chinese Orbital Station. Since the delivery into orbit of the first main habitation module "Tianhe" in 2021 year and the final start of Shenzhou-15 passed only 20 months.
This once again demonstrates the speed and precision of China and, more importantly, reliability in the fulfillment of their plans, space observer and television commentator Song Zhunping commented on the completion of the station to the Global Times.
Space analyst from Beijing, of anonymity, emphasized, that China has implemented a program to build an orbital station not only in record time, but completely independent. While “15 countries took a decade or more 30 missions, to assemble the International Space Station (ISS)».
A number of other experts noted, that the completion of the Chinese space station, which is designed to stay in orbit for at least one decade, is of global importance, especially given the fact, that the aging ISS could cease operations by the end of the decade, and even earlier in 2024 year.
Chinese station can provide some stability at the time, when the US and its partners will go through a transition period from the ISS to the development and use of commercial space stations, said Mariel Borowitz, Associate Professor of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology USA.
After the successful completion of the Shenzhou-15 launch mission, the space station project should move on to the next stage of application and development., which will last more than ten years. Launch vehicle Long March-2F, according to its developer China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), will continue to perform manned space flights twice a year, playing an important role during the operational phase of the space station.
According to the mission plan, Shenzhou-15 spacecraft will conduct rapid automatic rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe main module, and then form a new structure of three spacecraft and three modules with a total mass of almost 100 tonnes. Three taikonauts will replace the Shenzhou-14 crew at the station. During the six-month mission, they will conduct research and medical experiments., several spacewalks planned. Author:Alexander Grigoriev
