China's “Shenzhou-21” spacecraft has reached the space station carrying four mice and three astronauts. China announced on Saturday that the spacecraft had successfully docked with the country's space station. After its successful launch, the spacecraft reached the space station in record time with its three-member crew.
Shenzhou-21 reached the space station in three and a half hours
According to the China Central Space Agency (CMSA), the spacecraft's docking process with the station took about three and a half hours, three hours faster than previous missions. “Shenzhou-21” took off from the Jiuquan Launch Center in northwest China at 11:44 pm local time on Friday night. The three astronauts will now enter the station's “Tianhe Core Module. The crew is led by pilot and commander Zhang Lu who previously served on the Shenzhou-15 mission. He is accompanied on his first space flight by Wu Fei (32), an engineer and China's youngest ever astronaut. The third member is Zhang Hongzhang, a payload expert who previously researched new energy and advanced materials. is
What is China's plan?
Under China's plan, three astronauts will stay on the space station for about six months. During his stay he will conduct 27 scientific and applied experiments related to biotechnology, space medicine, materials science and other fields. A special achievement of this mission is that China has sent mice to its space station for the first time. Four rats (two male and two female) will be monitored to study how weightlessness affects their behavior, explained engineer Han Pei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to Xinhua News Agency, these four rats were selected from 300 rats after 60 days of intensive training. China National Radio reported that the rats will remain on the space station for five to seven days and then return to Earth via Shenzhou-20.
A plan to send astronauts to the moon
Zhang Jingbo, a spokesman for China's Manned Space Agency, said research and development work as part of the plan to send astronauts to the moon was progressing smoothly. In addition, the process of sending two Pakistani astronauts to China for training is underway with the cooperation of Pakistan. One of them is planned to be sent on a short-duration mission as a payload specialist that will be the first visit by a foreign astronaut to a Chinese space station.
