China launches a mission with crew to her space station: “The homeland and people expect you to return successfully” | Science

With a horizontal glow, a dense smoking and a roar that crosses the chest of those who are moderately close, a Chinese rocket of the long boy on March 2 took away Wednesday with three Chinese astronauts aboard the crew ship Shenzhou-20. The launch occurred exactly at 17.17 (local time, 11.17 in Peninsular Spain), as expected, by the historic Chinese base of Jiuquan, in the middle of the Gobi desert, west of the country. THE Shenzhou-20 has as a final destination The Chinese Space Station TiangongTo which it will be linked in the next few hours with a complex maneuver and in which the three crew will spend six months to create scientific experiments in search of progress in the space race.

In a concrete Explanade located a kilometer and a half of the rocket, the audience continued the countdown: “Wu, yes, San, uh, yi ¡dianhuo! (Five, four, three, two, a take -off!)” Oh! “

The launch supposes A new milestone in the Chinese space programwhose goal is to send a Mission mission to the Moon before 2030 And, in the medium term, establish a permanent base in the satellite, a project that is prepared in collaboration with Russia. China already He managed to lay a robot on the hidden face of the moon and return from there with champions. He also managed to send a probe to Mars, a planet that is also found on the horizon of crew missions, although much more distant.

With rapid Chinese development, space has become a field more than Intense rivalry for technological and military domain Between China and the United States. The American Artemis Program – after several delays – provides for the return of astronauts to the moon by 2027.

The Tiangong, whose first form was put in orbit in 2021, is one of the star jewels of the Chinese space program and could become the only one in its class in the world, when the international space station, a project led by the United States and in which China is vested by the military connections of its space program, is withdrawn in 2030.

Shortly before take -off, the three Peace Chinese (word that comes from TaikongWhich means that the Cosmo in Chinese) paraded before hundreds of people gather at the base to greet. “The homeland and people expect you to return successfully”, was read on the posters, while the public sang, next to an orchestra, the Song at home: “The red flag with five -star waves in the wind!” The entire Chinese space program is imbued with a strong spirit of nationalism. “May the vast space witness the infinite loyalty of Chinese space soldiers,” commented the commander Chen Dong at the forefront of the mission.

It is the third time that this 46 -year -old astronaut, EXPALEOTO DE FUT, and with a long list of decorations, heads for the universe. “Every trip to space is unique. We hope to acquire more experience and progress in the operation. The most important thing in this task is to complete our work with zero errors,” he confessed in an apparition in which he and his mission classmates have been presented to the world behind an exhibition, to avoid contact with the outside. Dresses with a blue monkey, who distinguished himself in a way he finished on the huge Chinese flag behind him, welcomed themselves to those present with military greeting.

On this occasion, it is accompanied by Chen Zhongrui, 40 years old, also Expiloto de la Force Air, and Wang Jie, a 35 -year -old aerospace engineer. For a few days they will live with the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-19 mission, to which they will relieve after their six-month stay in the Tiangong, and whose return to Earth is scheduled for April 29. Among the milestones of the previous mission is to have given The largest space walk ever recorded, nine hours.

The Chinese station is something similar to a laboratory of stars, where tests related to the space race are conducted. The crew of the Shenzhou-20 It provides for 59 scientific and technological experiments on spatial biological sciences, physics in microgravity and new spatial technologies, according to Tuesday Lin Xiqiang, spokesman of the Space Agency with Chinese crew, during a press conference at the base of Jiuquan. Lin said they try to make progress in areas such as the cultivation of chips for Vascularized brain organoids (Some cells that resemble the human brain), the unbalanced dynamics of the soft material and preparation based on the space of high temperature superconductors.

To date, the Tiangong has hosted more than 200 scientific projects and over 100 samples generated have returned to Earth for the study. The crew that now returns has maintained a particularly intense activity, participating in 88 of them, in fields such as space bioscency, fundamental physics in microgravity, the science of space materials, aerospace medicine and new technologies. Lin highlighted its results in the production in the Bose-Einstein condensed (BEC) using complete optical traps and the construction of the first experimental platform of the world of quantum simulation with spatial optical networks.

Another one hundred samples will land on our planet with the mission that ends now; They will be subject to analysis and should provide relevant results in the development of new materials, the study of the physiological effects of spatial radiation and the biomagnetic effects at the molecular level, said the aforementioned spokesperson.

Previous missions have studied with living species such as zebra and fruit flies and in the coming months, new experiments with dishes will be conducted (a type of flat worm and simple structure), Streptomyces (a bacterium) and, once again, with zebra fish. The intention is to study problems such as bone loss and cardiovascular disorders caused by deceptions, medical problems that represent a challenge for the human exploration of the deep space.

The launch coincided exactly with the 55th anniversary of the expedition to the space, in 1970, of the first Chinese satellite by this same spatial base surrounded by a desert of clay. The episode scored a before and after in the Chinese program. The Popular Republic would not be able to send an astronaut in space until 2003. Since then, it has accelerated the rhythm. This Wednesday is the 35th flight of his crew program. “The workers in the space sector, stopped in their respective positions, will live this day of profound meaning with a spirit full of energy and determination to achieve the success of the mission,” said the pension spokesman.