According to Chinese cosmonaut Yang Liwei, they will mainly be involved in the construction of the Chinese space station
BEIJING, March 6. /TASS/. China intends to send 12 people to space in the next two years. According to Yang Liwei, the deputy head of the Chinese Manned Space Flight Program and the first Chinese cosmonaut, they will mainly be involved in the construction of the Chinese space station.
"This year and next year <...> we plan to carry out 11 missions, including the launch of the main module [of the space station], the experimental compartment, and the manned spacecraft. 12 astronauts will go to space, " he said on the sidelines of the 4th session of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Council of China (VC CPPCC, the highest advisory body) of the 13th convocation, of which he is a member, held in Beijing. "China's young specialists will have even more opportunities to fly into space," Yang Liwei was quoted as saying by China Central Television on Saturday. "I hope that more and more young people will join the cosmonaut squad," he stressed.
The Chinese space station Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace") will be built in a low orbit at an altitude of 340 to 450 km and is expected to operate for more than a decade. It will be able to receive three astronauts on a permanent basis and up to six when the crew changes. The station will be T - shaped, with the Tianhe base module in the middle and two laboratory modules docked on either side. The weight of each laboratory module will be more than 20 tons, the total weight of the station-66 tons, and the total volume of the station together with the laboratory modules-110 cubic meters.
In total, for the construction of the first national space station, China plans to carry out 11 launches in the next two years. After putting the base module into orbit, China will launch the Tianzhou-2 cargo ship and the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft. Its crew will work in orbit for several months, after which another" truck ""Tianzhou-3" and a manned ship "Shenzhou-13" with a second crew will be launched to the station.
In February of this year, the carrier rocket "Changzheng-5-bi "(CZ-5B) for the launch of the base module" Tianhe " was delivered to the Wenchang cosmodrome in the Chinese province of Hainan. According to the plan, after the delivery of the rocket, the specialists of the cosmodrome began to install the equipment and prepare the rocket and the base module for launch.
The construction of the station is expected to be completed by 2022. As promised by the Chinese authorities, it will be available for international projects.
