China’s Shenzhou-12

China’s Shenzhou-12

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Chinese astronauts back after 90 days in space

Concept –

• Shenzhou 12 was a Chinese spaceflight launched on 17 June 2021.
• The flight marked the seventh crewed Chinese spaceflight and the twelfth flight of the Shenzhou program.
• The spacecraft carried three members of the People’s Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) on the first flight to the Tianhe core module, the first module of the Tiangong space station.
• The Shenzhou-12 craft connected with the Tianhe space station module about six hours after takeoff from the Jiuquan launch center in Gobi Desert.
• The three-man crew will spend three months on the Tianhe module, which is orbiting at some 340km to 380km above the earth.
• China is the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to carry out a manned mission on its own.
• This is the first of two manned space missions planned for this year, part of an intense schedule of launches aimed at completing the Chinese space station in 2022.
• At least five more missions are planned for the year, with the Shenzhou-13 manned mission, also carrying three astronauts, set for later this year.
• The three astronauts are the first to take up residency in the main living module and will carry out experiments, test equipment, conduct maintenance and prepare the station for receiving two laboratory modules next year.
• It was China’s seventh crewed mission to space but marked a number of firsts for the country – the first manned one during the construction of China’s space station, the first in nearly five years after the country’s last manned mission in 2016 and China’s longest crewed space mission to date.