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China transferred a spacecraft carrying three astronauts to its space station for the first in- route crew gyration in Chinese space history, launching operation of the alternate inhabited village in low- earth route after the NASA- led International Space Station.
The spacecraft Shenzhou- 15, or” Divine Vessel”, and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March- 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 1108p.m.( 1508 GMT) on Tuesday amidsub-freezing temperatures in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, according to state TV.
Shenzhou- 15 was the last of 11 operations, including three previous crewed operations, that began in April 2021 demanded to assemble the” Celestial Palace”, as themulti-module station is known in Chinese.
The triad will take over from the Shenzhou- 14 crew who arrived in early June. The former crew members are anticipated to return to Earth in early December after a one- week handover that will also establish the station’s capability to temporarily sustain six astronauts, another record for China’s space programme.The space village took on its current” T” shape in November with the appearance of the last of three spherical modules.
The” Celestial Palace” was the capstone of nearly two decades of Chinese crewed operations to space. China’s manned space breakouts began in 2003 when a former fighter airman, Yang Liwei, was transferred into route in a small citation- coloured capsule, the Shenzhou- 5, and came China’s first man in space and an instant idol cheered by millions at home.
The space station was also an hallmark of China’s growing leverage and confidence in its space endeavours and a rival to the United States in the sphere, after being insulated from the NASA- led ISS and banned by US law from any collaboration, direct or circular, with the US space agency.
The Shenzhou- 15 charge, during which its crew will live and work on the space station for six months, also offered the nation a rare moment to celebrate, at a time of wide unhappiness over China’s stifling zero- COVID programs while its frugality hits the thickets amid misgivings at home and abroad.Long live the motherland!” numerous Chinese netizens wrote on social media
