(英语泛读)神州13，世界瞩目！

2021-10-16 20:53 作者:老刘的异想世界 0人读过 | 我要投稿

神州13的成功发射，继续书写着中国航天的神话，世界各国都跟进报道了这次太空挑战。

China launches Shenzhou 13 astronauts on historic mission to new space station

China's second crewed mission to its new space station is underway.

The nation's Shenzhou 13 spacecraft launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert today (Oct. 15), rising off the pad atop a Long March 2F rocket at 12:23 p.m. EDT (1623 GMT; 00:23 Oct. 16 local time).

Shenzhou 13 and its three passengers — commander Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu — are headed toward Tianhe, the core module of the Tiangong space station that China is building in low Earth orbit.

Tianhe has only been aloft since April, but the module has already hosted one crewed visit — Shenzhou 12, which launched in June and returned to Earth last month. The three-month mission was China's longest-duration human spaceflight to date, but Shenzhou 13 will wreck that record, racking up six months aboard Tianhe ("Harmony of the Heavens").

Shenzhou 13 will break new ground in another way as well: Wang will become the first woman to live aboard the core module. (The Shenzhou 12 crewmembers were all men.)

This is the second spaceflight for the 41-year-old Wang. She also flew on Shenzhou 10, which visited China's Tiangong 1 prototype space lab for two weeks in 2013.

Zhai, 55, is also a spaceflight veteran, having served on the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008. During that three-day flight, he conducted China's first-ever spacewalk.

Shenzhou 13 is the first spaceflight for Ye, who is 41.

Zhai, Wang and Ye will be busy during their six months in orbit. They'll spend a lot of time testing and validating technologies that will allow China to finish construction of the new space station, which is called Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace"). That station will consist of three modules; the other two are expected to launch toward the 54-foot-long (16.6 meters) Tianhe next year.

Zhai, Wang and Ye will also conduct a variety of experiments onboard Tianhe, including work designed to advance space medicine and scientists' understanding of microgravity physics. And researchers on the ground will keep close tabs on the trio's health, to learn more about how long-duration spaceflight affects people mentally and physically. The crew will also conduct two or three spacewalks during the Shenzhou 13 mission, Chinese space officials said.