Off the wire
• Original musical about Jews in Shanghai showcased in New York  • Different aims and needs for Spanish sides in Europa League  • Weather information for Asia-Pacific cities  • Sri Lanka to invite private investment in higher education sector  • Brazilian Supreme Court order to suspend Senate president defied  • Greek journalists on 24-hour strike against new austerity measures  • Philippine armed forces' new chief of staff assumes post  • 2nd Ld Writethru: Rough weather hampers Indian navy's evacuation efforts for stranded 1,400 tourists in Andamans  • Russian military adviser killed in Syria: defense ministry  • One Turkish soldier killed in northern Syria operation  
You are here: 　 Home

China capable of helping astronauts for long missions: expert

Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

The success of China's longest-ever manned space mission shows that the country is capable of supporting astronauts' long-term stay in space, a space expert said Wednesday.

The Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft carrying two astronauts was launched on Oct. 17 and returned to Earth Nov. 18. It docked with Tiangong-2, China's first space lab, and the two formed a complex.

The two astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, lived in Tiangong-2 for 30 days and returned to Earth safely and in good health.

Huang Weifen, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system with the Astronaut Center of China, said the two astronauts quickly became accustomed to the environment in space and demonstrated excellent physical and mental condition. They successfully finished all planned scientific experiments.

The mission verified the overall quality of the astronauts, and showed that China is capable of helping astronauts stay in space for the long term, Huang added.

Huang said the mission tested some key technology and systems for long-term stay in space, including restraints for treadmills, medical ultrasounds, remote medicine, supply management, an interactive electronic manual, and plant growing technology. Endi