China has launched its second crew of three astronauts to the Tianhe space station core module. Taikonaut Wang Yaping will spend six months aboard with colleagues Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu, making history as the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk.
The Shenzhou 13 capsule lifted off successfully from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Friday at 6:23 p.m. (French time), atop a Long March 2F rocket. It docked with the Tianhe station about eight hours later at the nadir port, facing Earth, using a radial rendezvous maneuver.
The crew includes Wang Yaping (41), Zhai Zhigang (55), and Ye Guangfu (41), who will stay about six months on the station. This team served as backups for the Shenzhou 12 mission, which returned after three months in orbit.
In a pre-launch interview at Jiuquan, Wang Yaping confirmed the crew plans to deliver a lecture to Chinese students from orbit, echoing the previous mission. She also highlighted safety measures: if Shenzhou 13 encounters major issues, an emergency escape pod would be launched for a swift return.
During their mission, the astronauts will maintain the station, conduct experiments in aerospace medicine and microgravity physics, and perform two to three spacewalks to install robotic arms. Wang Yaping, who flew on Shenzhou 10 in 2013, will lead one, marking a first for a Chinese woman astronaut.
Shenzhou 13 caps China's major missions for the year, with six more planned in 2022 to complete the station—about a quarter the size of the ISS. Crews will run scientific experiments and prepare for long-duration spaceflights. Future international participation, including possibly a European astronaut, remains a possibility.
