Editorial | New era begins for China space project
- Nation salutes return of Shenzhou-14 astronauts at night after landmark handover of assembled Tiangong station to another crew
Three Chinese astronauts are back on Earth after completing the assembly of the basic structure of the Tiangong space station and handing over on-board duties to a fresh crew. The plan is to launch two crewed space missions each year over the next decade.
The new space station will be a very busy place in the years ahead – both as a zero-gravity site for research and a stepping stone for future manned missions to the moon and eventually to Mars.
What was special about the latest return of a crew of astronauts was that it was made at night, at 8.09pm in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Conditions made retrieval of the astronauts more difficult, with previous landings having all been made during the day. China’s space agency had enough confidence in its safety procedures and technical improvements, especially in geo-tracking, to allow capsule retrieval under adverse conditions.
Indeed, experts have heralded the first nighttime landing as a highlight of the programme. The return from space in winter added to the difficulties faced by search crews on the ground, but they were prepared for the extreme conditions, as well as the possibility of the capsule landing upside down or damaged.
New procedures and techniques were used to locate the astronauts, meaning that in future space travellers can return at any time of the day. The landing also served as a highly useful exercise to prepare for emergencies and accidents.