China on Thursday sent three astronauts to its permanently inhabited space station for a six-month stay, in a regular rotation of Chinese astronauts onboard the \u201cTiangong\u201d orbiting high above the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.
\nThe spacecraft Shenzhou-18, or \u201cDivine Vessel\u201d, and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 8:58 p.m. (1258 GMT), according to state media.
\nLeading the six-month mission was 43-year-old Ye Guangfu, who last went to Tiangong, or \u201cHeavenly Palace\u201d in Chinese, in October 2021 in China\u2019s second crewed mission to the station.
\nAccompanying him this time were Li Cong, 34, and Li Guangsu, 36, both in space for the first time and hailing from the latest batch of astronauts on China\u2019s spaceflight programme.
\nThe three men were all former air force pilots.
\nCompleted in late 2022, Tiangong can house a maximum of three astronauts for months at an orbital altitude of up to 450 km (280 miles). It has a designed operational lifespan of at least 15 years.
\nChina has been launching two crewed missions to Tiangong per year since 2021 when construction of the outpost began, with the Shenzhou-18 being the seventh.
\nEach crew has stayed for around six months, conducting space walks as well as scientific experiments inside the station\u2019s low-gravity environment.
\nTiangong has become an emblem of China\u2019s confidence in its space endeavours after being shut out of the NASA-led International Space Station for decades. China is banned by U.S. law from any collaboration, direct or indirect, with NASA.
\nShenzhou-18 marks China\u2019s 13th crewed mission to space since Yang Liwei\u2019s solo spaceflight in October 2003. Yang was the first Chinese national ever to reach space.
\n(Reuters)space station. space station, astronauts, China<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China sent three astronauts to the Tiangong space station for a six-month mission. The spacecraft Shenzhou-18, carrying the astronauts, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. The astronauts included Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, all former air force pilots. Tiangong can house a maximum of three astronauts for months at an orbital altitude of up to 450 km. China has been launching two crewed missions to Tiangong per year since 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3258,7918,4156,486,2858,1498,1625,203,187,5283,5679,96,7776,2952,543,45,6928,335,7917,1971,1238,6305,18],"class_list":["post-9657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-air","tag-astronauts","tag-atmosphere","tag-china","tag-collaboration","tag-confidence","tag-construction","tag-environment","tag-international","tag-international-space-station","tag-law","tag-lifespan","tag-march","tag-media","tag-nasa","tag-passengers","tag-six","tag-space","tag-space-station","tag-spacecraft","tag-vessel","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n