BEIJING (AP) – China said Thursday that a cohort of astronauts will be training for four manned missions this year as the country works to complete its first permanent space station in orbit.
According to the China National Space Administration and foreign observers, the station’s core module, dubbed Tianhe, could be launched next month. The massive Long March-5B Y2 rocket and its payload were brought into place at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in tropical Hainan province last month for assembly and testing.
That launch would be the first of 11 missions over the next two years that would complete construction of the station by the end of 2022. Two more modules will be launched later, along with four Tianzhou Cargo Supply Missions and the four Shenzhou Manned Missions.
CNSA listed 12 astronauts training for the crewed missions, including veterans of previous Shenzhou flights, newcomers, and women, although it was not clear whether others had been selected.
Up to three crew members will reportedly live in the core module at the same time, which has docking ports to connect later-launched science modules.
China has already launched two smaller experimental space stations to test rendezvous, docking and life support measures on board. When completed, the permanent space station will allow for a stay of up to six months, similar to the International Space Station.
The Chinese station is reportedly intended to be used for 15 years and can outlast ISS, which is nearing the end of its functional life.
ISS is backed by the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, Canada and others, but China did not participate, partly at the urging of the United States, which was wary of sharing technology with the secret military-linked Chinese. program.
However, China’s space program has made steady progress since it first launched an astronaut into orbit in 2003.
A rover went to the little-explored far side of the moon in 2019.
Another craft, the Tianwen-1, is in a parking orbit around Mars, awaiting the landing of a rover on the surface in the coming months. If successful, China will only become the second country after the US to put a spacecraft on Mars.
China is also working on a reusable spaceplane and planning a manned lunar mission and a possible permanent moon research base, although no dates have been proposed.