Festive purple adorns China’s Tiangong space station in new footage celebrating the lunar new yr in orbit, kicking off the Year of the Tiger.
The Shenzhou 13 astronauts are the primary to have a good time the vacation in orbit, in response to the China National Space Administration, and got ample provides to take action. “They have decorated the space station core module with traditional Chinese paper-cuts, spring festival couplets … and red lanterns,” state supplier CCTV stated in a recent update.
“I wish you all a Happy New Year, good health, good luck and an auspicious Year of the Tiger,” commander Zhai Zhigang says in footage from CCTV, which the media outlet translated into English. Joining Zhigang within the festivities within the Tianhe core module of the station are Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu.
Chinese New Year occurs on the new moon between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20, which locations this yr’s vacation on Tuesday (Feb. 1). It is among the most vital holidays within the nation and is usually marked (on Earth) with fireworks or firecrackers.
Related: The latest news about China’s space program
Shenzhou 13 lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center within the Gobi Desert Oct. 15, aboard a Long March 2F rocket. The mission has already damaged one Chinese report, with Wang becoming the first woman to dwell aboard the core module.
The taikonauts purpose to spend roughly six months in orbit, double the length of Shenzhou 12, the one different mission to date to go to Tianhe with an all-male crew.
So far, the crew has continued station development with a spacewalk in November 2021, livestreamed a science lecture for Chinese college students that December and manually flew a cargo ship in January to check emergency procedures and docking.
Increased Chinese actions in space and cybersecurity worries, nonetheless, have brought about concern each from the Biden administration and from senior NASA officials, who see the nation as in search of space superiority in its crewed launches together with latest missions on the moon and Mars.
A 2011 Congressional directive referred to as the Wolf Amendment prohibits NASA from utilizing federal funds for direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese authorities. As such, China shouldn’t be a associate on the International Space Station challenge and doesn’t collaborate with NASA on robotic missions.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
