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On Sunday, the Shenzhou 15 spacecraft landed back on Earth. On board were three taikonauts, who spent six months aboard the Tiangong space station.

In the news: A few days back, a crew change took place aboard Tiangong for the second time.

  • Three taikonauts, including to go to space, have been aboard Tiangong since May 29 and will stay there until the fall. On Saturday, their predecessors, who had been aboard since last November, departed back to Earth.
  • The trio landed Sunday in the Gobi Desert, reports the China Manned Space Agency space agency. The three taikonauts are said to be in good health.
  • The Shenzhou 15 crew has been conducting scientific research in orbit for six months. The taikonauts also did four , a record for China.
  • For the next few years, the space station will remain permanently inhabited. China will send a new crew to Tiangong every six months. The space station should be operational for at least a decade.

The station

Background: Tiangong has been under construction since 2021. The last module was installed in late October 2022.

  • Now completed, the T-shaped space station is about 20 percent the size of the International Space Station (ISS).
  • Tiangong has a mass of about 100 tons, making it the same size as Mir or Skylab. Those are two space stations used last century, by the Soviets and Americans, respectively.
  • Interestingly, Tiangong may be the only space station in orbit after 2030. After all, the ISS program may be discontinued from that year.

Race to space

Zooming out further: The commissioning of Tiangong, is yet another sign that China is at breakneck speed.

  • The country only succeeded in launching a taikonaut on a spacewalk for the first time in 2003. It was only the third country in history to do so on its own.
  • Meanwhile, China also put unmanned robots on the moon several times. The Chang'e 5 mission, conducted in 2020, even brought moon rock back to Earth.
  • in 2021, the country succeeded in placing a rover on Mars. Only the US so far succeeded in getting working rovers on the red planet. Several attempts by the Soviet Union failed.
  • China also wants to get taikonauts on the moon in the next few years. Then next decade it wants to get people walking on Mars. In doing so, it will compete with the U.S., which is trying to do the same with Artemis missions. (CV)

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