Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Chinese Astronauts´ first night inside Tiangong-1


The Chinese launch to their space lab has been in the news and here are a few links if you missed the action.
- LRK -

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Astronauts live up on busy space schedule

06-20-2012 00:34 BJT
The successful docking of the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 orbital lab signifies the start of a new chapter for the three Chinese astronauts on board. They'll work and live in the space module for the majority of their remaining 2-week journey in space.
Blasting off in a rather limited space in the Shenzhou 9, it took the three Chinese astronauts almost 2 days of orbital maneuvering and a good half hour's walking & crawling to finally reach the more roomy Tiangong-1.
Deng Yibing, Chief Engineer, China Astronaut Research & Training Center, said, "It was the busiest day for the astronauts since the blast-off. They didn't even have time to eat lunch. They had to monitor the automatic docking and prepare for the future manual docking. They also took some samples of the air in the laboratory. The temperature, humidity, and the level of carbon dioxide and oxygen partial pressure are all fantastic."
Despite being 350 kilometers above the surface of the earth, the astronauts are now working and living by the familiar Beijing Time. On their first night aboard Tiangong-1, Commander Jing Haipeng stood watch and crew member Liu Wang and Liu Yang rested.
But even in their sleep, there were sending valuable data to scientists back home.
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VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ON BUSY SPACE SCHEDULE

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More info on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 orbital lab.
- LRK -

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Manned Space Mission
Shenzhou 9's Docking Mission with Tiangong-1 

Videos, pictures and information - LRK -

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More history from SpaceDaily. Source: Xinhua News Agency
- LRK -

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DRAGON SPACE
China's manned space mission "hits target": Russian expert
by Staff WritersBeijing (XNA) Jun 18, 2012

The successful launching of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Saturday proves again China's grasp of essential space techniques and shows Chinese vision on how to develop the space programwith steady steps and rational goals, a Russian space expert said.

China's National Space Administration (CNSA) has adopted the policy of making small but reliable achievements, which could be summarized as "slower and better," Igor Lisov, a researcher in the Cosmonautics News magazine, told Xinhua in an interview.

Each mission of China's spacecraft is aimed at reaching exactly one particular achievement. "This time, the fourth one, the objective was to undertake the manned docking, the first in the Chinese space program's history," Lisov said.

China launched the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with Liu Yang - the country's first female astronaut - and her two male crewmates Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang aboard from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China at 6:37 p.m. (1037 GMT) Saturday.
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Here is to looking up, maybe near, maybe far, maybe even a star.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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