China sends astronauts to 'Celestial Palace' in historic mission
STORY: 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 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) on Tuesday amid sub-freezing temperatures in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, according to state television.
Shenzhou-15 was the last of 11 missions, including three prior crewed missions, that began in April 2021 needed to assemble the "Celestial Palace," as the multi-module station is known in Chinese.
The trio will take over from the Shenzhou-14 crew who arrived in early June. The previous crew members are expected to return to Earth in early December after a one-week handover that will also establish the station's ability to temporarily sustain six astronauts, another record for China's space program.
The space outpost took on its current "T" shape in November with the arrival of the last of three cylindrical modules.
The station has a designed lifespan of at least a decade, with resident astronauts expected to conduct over 1,000 scientific experiments - from studying how plants adapt in space to how fluids behave in microgravity.
The "Celestial Palace" was the culmination of nearly two decades of Chinese crewed missions to space. China's manned space flights began in 2003 when a former fighter pilot, Yang Liwei, was sent into orbit in a small bronze-colored capsule, the Shenzhou-5, and became China's first man in space and an instant hero cheered by millions at home.
The space station was also an emblem of China's growing clout and confidence in its space endeavors and a challenger to the United States in the domain, after being isolated from the NASA-led ISS and banned by U.S. law from any collaboration, direct or indirect, with the U.S. space agency.
The Shenzhou-15 mission, 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 widespread unhappiness over China's stifling zero-COVID policies while its economy hits the brakes amid uncertainties at home and abroad.
"Long live the motherland!" many Chinese netizens wrote on social media.
相關影片推薦
- 1:57南投竹山26戶別墅地層下陷 53住戶連夜撤離民視影音12,484 次觀看・20 小時前
- 2:01中國快時尚危機 年丟2600萬噸衣服 合成纖維占7成無法回收Yahoo奇摩(國際通)128,979 次觀看・2 週前
- 1:47台南新營區"後鎮排水"潰堤 鹽水區淹成汪洋民視影音211,697 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:58鼓山美術館豪宅區淹大水 整片"土黃泥流"損失慘民視影音138,790 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:52義大利絕美「眾神之路」中世紀牧人小徑變身熱門景點Yahoo奇摩(國際通)42,158 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:43只差3秒! 蘇花工程人員逃命畫面曝光 倒車逃險遭埋華視影音98,808 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:59仁武豪華別墅地下室滅頂 居民矛頭指向市府重劃工程民視影音57,327 次觀看・19 小時前
- 1:58新北送高雄1146元外送單是真的! 外送員現身東森新聞影音417,850 次觀看・3 天前
- 11:02地震來了怎麼辦?豆腐別再涼拌了,教你新吃法,做法簡單味道足,加上杏鮑菇,香!芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV72,853 次觀看・5 天前
- 2:23台積只排第7! 聯發科「非主管」平均年薪再奪冠華視影音2,104 次觀看・3 週前
熱門必看
- 13:07葉全真不愛邀人作客竟是因為這點?唐老師:「好典型的處女座」!Ep.225-2唐綺陽談星室375,898 次觀看・3 週前
- 24:06霸氣挑戰南部小吃價格 吃到賺到!板橋10樣親民價美食Yahoo創作摩人135,393 次觀看・1 個月前
- 23:55吃爆三峽老街美食|九間就被擊垮了|最道地金牛角竟是這家?|阿環格格出遊去 Ft.阿環小姐 [送你營養吃]黃君聖Sunny營養師154,931 次觀看・1 個月前
- 21:58瀕臨破產到全球市值最強!輝達(Nvidia)是怎麼崛起的?買他們股票的都賺翻了?《 時代的巨人》EP 021|志祺七七志祺七七 X 圖文不符202,633 次觀看・1 個月前
- 6:30台中南屯|百年秘方汕頭火鍋Lee Yi李易42,549 次觀看・1 個月前