Sent to Tianhe Space Station Module
China, June 17: China launched its first crew to space for the development of the Tianhe (meaning harmony of heavens) space station core module. It is about the size of a bus, cylindrical in shape, 55 feet long and 14 feet in diameter. It is the first module of the Tiangong (meaning “Heavenly Palace”) space station which is currently under development.
The crew of three members, Nie Haisheng (56), Liu Boming (54), and Tang Hongbo (45), will be the first visitors to Tianhe. This mission was set off today at 04:25 AM EDT (Eastern Time Zone) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern Gansu province. The three astronauts are going to stay for three months in outer space about 380 km away from the earth. The Shenzhou-12 successfully docked with Tianhe after about seven hours of journey. The primary objective of the mission was preparing the Tianhe, the living quarters of the space station for life-support systems, and testing other equipment by conducting various experiments.
With news inputs from EJ Tanvi
