Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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February 18th, 2024
Image credit: Mars Guy
Mars Guy reviews new images from tests that expose the extent of the destruction of Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter.
Image credit: Mars Guy
One rotor blade appears to be missing.
On the 72nd flight of Ingenuity, the craft suffered catastrophic damage when its rotor blades contacted a sand ripple during landing.
Go to video that features the work of Simeon Schmauß at:
https://youtu.be/a6r4-rDc-3U?si=clWd2R1n9wZUm1gc
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover used its Right Mastcam-Z Camera to acquire this new image of the damaged chopper on Feb. 16th.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Posted in 
Pre-launch photo with technicians working on the Varga capsule-mounted spacecraft.
Image credit: Rocket Lab/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The reentry of Varda Space Industries’ in-space manufacturing capsule, named Winnebago-1 (W-1), is set for February 21.
The FAA has granted a world-first reentry license for the mission, enabling Rocket Lab to conduct a targeted reentry of the capsule and subsequent landing in the Utah Desert.
Rocket Lab built and is operating the spacecraft currently hosting the capsule on orbit.
Varda’s W-1 mission was lofted on SpaceX’s Transporter 8 flight last June.
SpaceX Transporter-8 liftoff.
Image credit: SpaceX/Varda Space Industries
However, Varda’s initial plan to reenter the capsule back in September of last year was curtailed due to both Air Force and FAA approval issues.
Engine burns
In the coming days, Rocket Lab will conduct a series of maneuvers to bring the capsule, named Winnebago-1, back to Earth.
The Varda capsule is approximately 3 feet in diameter, 2.5 feet tall, and weighs less than 200 pounds. It is slated to parachute into the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) – a remote area in which NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid return capsule also landed last year.
In the evening of February 18, Pacific Time (PT) there will be an initial burn of the Curie engine on Rocket Lab’s spacecraft that places Winnebago-1 in its first staging orbit.
On February 20, PT, a second engine burn places Winnebago-1 in its second staging orbit.
Image credit: Varda Space Industries
Afternoon of February 21, PT, the spacecraft’s third and fourth final engine burns to de-orbit and set Winnebago-1 on its atmospheric reentry trajectory.
First of four
The Varda capsule was lofted to grow Ritonavir crystals, a drug commonly used as an antiviral medication for HIV and hepatitis C.
According to a Rocket Lab statement, this mission is the first of four which will use identical Rocket Lab spacecraft to support Varda’s in-space manufacturing.
“The second spacecraft has completed assembly, integration, and testing at Rocket Lab’s spacecraft production facility in Long Beach, California, and is scheduled to launch in the coming months,” adds the statement.
Utah landing site. Image credit: FAA/Final
Environmental Assessment
Coming in hot! (MSL stands for mean sea level. Image credit: FAA/Final
Environmental Assessment
Varda test capsule and still attached main parachute following a 2022 parachute test in Arizona. Image credit: FAA/Final
Environmental Assessment
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
The Intuitive Machines (IM-1) Moon lander has transmitted its mission images to Earth on February 16th.
The lunar lander images were captured shortly after separation from the SpaceX’s second stage.
The IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander called “Odysseus” continues to be “in excellent health, in a stable orientation and remains on schedule for a lunar landing opportunity on the afternoon of February 22,” according to an earlier IM-1 posting from the private group.
Intuitive Machines flight controllers have successfully fired the first liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine in space, completing the IM-1 mission engine commissioning.
This engine firing included a full thrust main stage engine burn and throttle down-profile necessary to land on the Moon, the company reports.
Commission maneuver
There was a delay in a spacecraft Commission Maneuver burn on February 15.
“This approach provided flexibility in the mission’s engine burn schedule to allow for learning as we operate the lander in the vacuum of space,” the private company explains. Adjusting for this learning process is why the team chose to delay the burn.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
While preparing for the CM burn, flight controllers experienced intermittent uplink and downlink data communications between the Nova-C lander and ground stations, potentially impacting our ability to collect the critical information required to support the CM burn and follow-on performance analysis.
“As we prepared for the first-ever in-space ignition of a liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine, we reviewed our Earth-based test data against the data we’ve accumulated in space,” the communiqué from Intuitive Machines explains.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Chill out
“The in-space performance demonstrated that it takes longer to chill the liquid oxygen feed line than the Earth-based testing. After understanding the in-space liquid oxygen feedline requirements, we adjusted and uploaded the CM burn preparation timeline and increased the onboard event sequence timer.”
The IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander “is in excellent health, and we expect to continue to provide mission updates at least once a day,” explains the posting.
IM-1 landing area between the craters Malapert C and Malapert B and east of Malapert A, in relatively ancient terrain within the south pole Aitken basin.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 4099, February 16, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 4100 duties – wheeling toward 20 miles of distance from its touchdown location on August 5, 2012 Pacific Daylight Time (morning of August 6 EDT).
Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reports that the newly shaped weekend plan calls for Curiosity to continue to support two sets of long-term science campaigns.
“First, we want to understand the processes that built Mt. Sharp’s sulfate-bearing (salty) unit,” Fraeman notes, “and what that can tell us about Mars’ past changing climate and habitability.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 4099, February 16, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fraeman continues, pointing out that the second aspect of the long-term science objective is trying to understand how Gediz Vallis channel formed, “and by extension, what the ‘last gasps’ of surface water in Gale crater might have been like.”
Hugging the edge
The robot has been hugging the edge of Gediz Vallis channel for the past few drives, Fraeman notes, “getting as close as we can in order to image the rocks within the channel, but we had to turn ever so slightly east today, away from the channel, where the terrain is a little easier for Curiosity to navigate.”
Last Wednesday’s southeastern drive placed Curiosity right at the edge of a “dark band” (as characterized in orbital data) of the sulfate-bearing unit.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 4099, February 16, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
On the hunt
“In addition to still collecting lots of images of Gediz Vallis channel, we’re also now on the hunt for another possible drill target that will help us continue to characterize the rocks in the sulfate-bearing unit,” Fraeman adds.
“We’ll assess the textures and compositions of rocks in this and an upcoming dark band to help us determine whether there’s anything we’d like to sample.”
To cover the upcoming U.S. holiday on Monday, four sols of robot work were planned.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera imate taken on Sol 4099, February 16, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Methane measurement
The first sol of the plan is mainly devoted to getting ready for a Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite atmospheric observation that will take place just after midnight on the first sol and will measure methane in the Martian atmosphere.
We’ll also have some remote sensing observations on the first sol, with Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) observations of dark bedrock in front of the rover (“Red Kaweah”) and Mastcam images of Gediz Vallis channel.
Science action
Remote sensing will continue on the second sol of the plan, with more Mastcam observations and a ChemCam LIBS observation of “Muro Blanco,” a light-colored piece of bedrock.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera imate taken on Sol 4099, February 16, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will get in on the science action on the sol as well, Fraeman explains, with observations of two targets on dark toned rocks in front of us named “Thunderbolt Peak” and “Tenderfoot Peak.”
Drive to the south
“We’ll snag one more LIBS observation on the third sol of the plan on Tenderfoot Peak, then we’ll drive roughly 25 meters [82 feet] to the south, towards a rock we are interested in assessing as a possible drill target,” Fraeman reports.
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera imate taken on Sol 4099, February 16, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The fourth sol of the plan will be relatively quiet, with Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) observations to characterize the weather only, Fraeman points out.
Mastcam, Navcam, the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) and the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) will also make observations throughout the plan to characterize the Martian environment, Fraeman concludes.
Book Review: Off-Earth Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space by Erika Nesvold; MIT Press (2023); 304 pages, Hardcover: $27.95
This is a thought-provoking, even controversial for some readers!
Erika Nesvold, an astrophysicist, has worked as a researcher at NASA Goddard and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
As a developer for Universe Sandbox as well as cofounder of the nonprofit organization the JustSpace Alliance, Nesvold is also the creator and host of the podcast Making New Worlds.
The book rests on a stated premise: Can we do better in space than we’ve done here on Earth?
An issue is that we don’t, shouldn’t, or can’t leave our ethics back here on home planet Earth.
As stated by the publisher, Off-Earth includes historical and contemporary examples from outside the “dominant Western/US…and privileged narrative of the space industry.”
What that translates into is the author’s narrative on the potential ethical pitfalls of becoming a multi-planet species.
Bottom line: We won’t be departing our earthly problems and start afresh – even by taking in that space suit, airlock and cramped habitat smell.
Here’s an extract from the book, courtesy of MIT Press titled “The Thorny Ethics of Planetary Engineering – Whenever someone waxes poetic about terraforming alien worlds, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the ethical implications of the proposal.”
Go to:
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-thorny-ethics-of-planetary-engineering/
For more information about this book, go to:
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 4099 duties.
Alex Innanen, an atmospheric scientist at York University in Toronto, Ontario, reviews the rover’s new workspace. “There’s a lot to look at — different textures, different colors, different shapes.”
One of these is a contact science target, “Horseshoe Meadows,” a section of bedrock that is redder than what Mars researchers have been seeing recently.
Curiosity contact science target, “Horseshoe Meadows,” is a section of bedrock observable in this image, right above where “Curiosity” is written. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera on Sol 4096 February 13, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Familiar target
After the robot’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) takes a look, the science team is set to move into a main science block, Innanen points out, which starts with a session using Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) on a different bedrock target, “Post Corral Creek.”
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo taken on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
“ChemCam will then set its sights further afield to a familiar target, Fascination Turret,” which Mastcam examined earlier.
Old friend
Mastcam was scheduled to start imaging two mosaics of the upper Gediz Vallis Ridge “and an old friend, the Orinoco Butte, which has been a regular companion of Curiosity for many, many sols,” Innanen adds.
Mastcam will also join ChemCam in imaging “Post Corral Creek.”
Curiosity Right B Navigation Camera photo acquired on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The science block finishes up with a deck monitoring image. We’ve been taking these recently before and after every drive to see how the dust that collects on the rover deck changes because of things like driving or wind,” Innanen reports.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Bid farewell
After the science block, the plan is to return to Horseshoe Meadows with Curiosity’s Dust Removal Tool (DRT) and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), “and then it’s time to bid farewell to this workspace and drive away.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sol 4098 was not set to end there, though. “After the drive we have another science block to sneak in some later afternoon environmental activities. These include a Mastcam observation and Navcam line of sight to look at dust in the atmosphere and a dust devil survey to look for dust being lifted from the ground as well as a cloud movie,” says Innanen.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B photo taken on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Robot nap
Curiosity’s Sol 4099 was slated to not only have one science block a little before noon which includes a ChemCam AEGIS activity, a post-drive deck monitoring, another cloud movie and a long dust devil movie.
AEGIS stands for Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) – a software suite that permits the rover to autonomously detect and prioritize targets.
“Once that’s wrapped up, Innanen concludes, “Curiosity will nap for the rest of the sol in preparation for a weekend plan.”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera on Sol 4098, February 15, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) Courtesy: Lockheed Martin
The final count is in – 121.6 grams (4.29 ounces)!
That’s the total amount of collected bits and pieces of asteroid Bennu here on Earth, courtesy of NASA’s Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission.
The capsule containing the extraterrestrial goodies landed last September, parachuting into the Department of Defense Dugway Proving Ground in the Utah Test and Training Range, roughly 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Following its high-speed re-entry, the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule served as an artificial meteor before parachuting into the desert landscape of the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range.
Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Due to hard-to-remove fastners, specialists were initially thwarted opening the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) – where the bulk of Bennu collectibles were stored.
That issue was resolved in January.
Big reveal
The samples from afar include the rocks and dust found on the outside of the sampler head, as well as a portion of the bulk sample from inside the head, which was accessed through the head’s mylar flap.
What was not known was how much additional material remained inside the sampler head, to be added to the mass total.
View of the OSIRIS-REx Touch-and-Go-Sample-Acquisition-Mechanism (TAGSAM) head with balky lid removed, unveiling the bulk of asteroid Bennu sample inside.
(Image credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld/Joseph Aebersold
The big reveal just announced by NASA:
The remaining Bennu sample was recently poured into wedge-shaped containers, amounting to 1.81 ounces (51.2 grams).
Final total
Combined with the previously measured 2.48 ounces (70.3 grams) and additional particles collected outside of the pour, the bulk Bennu sample mass totals 4.29 ounces (121.6 grams), NASA reports.
A view of eight sample trays containing the final material from asteroid Bennu. The dust and rocks were poured into the trays from the top plate of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. 51.2 grams were collected from this pour, bringing the final mass of asteroid sample to 121.6 grams. Image credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold
That final total is a little less than what OSIRIS-REx researchers originally thought snagged by the spacecraft – but twice what was promised prior to launching the asteroid mission on Sept. 8, 2016. The goal of the enterprise was to bring at least 60 grams to Earth.
Go to my earlier Space.com story on what’s being learned by analyzing the Bennu samples. Take a read of “1st look at asteroid Bennu samples suggests space rock may even be ‘a fragment of an ancient ocean world’” at:
https://www.space.com/asteroid-bennu-osiris-rex-samples-1st-look-surprises
Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx’s principal investigator from the University of Arizona holds a mock up of the asteroid collection device – TAGSAM.
Image credit: Barbara David
Ambassadors ready to board Zero-G plane. From left to right is (top row) Mary Cooper, Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, Eric Shear, Apurva Varia, Sina Bahram, Zuby Onwuta, Dr. Mona Minkara, Viktoria Modesta, (bottom row) Sawyer Rosenstein, Dana Bolles, Eric Ingram, and Ce–Ce Mazyck. The four individuals in front are seated in wheelchairs, the two standing Ambassadors flanking the group each have visible prosthetic legs, and one of the blind Ambassadors is holding a white cane.
Image credit: AstroAccess
We are in a golden age of human spaceflight due to both governmental and private capabilities and knowhow.
To help enhance the roster of public space travel participation, attention is being paid to disabled and mixed ability individuals.
Exploratory research on parabolic zero-gravity flights has been performed underscoring the fact that disabled individuals can operate safely and effectively in weightless environments.
A new research paper highlights what types of technologies offer promising solutions for accessible design of space habitats, suits, and tools. The work also notes what accommodations can enable future disabled astronauts to operate safely in space.
An Ambassador used both hands to remove a prosthetic foot from her left leg. She is mostly floating with her other toe touching the floor.
Image credit: AstroAccess
AstroAccess
In the past, Disabled individuals have been excluded from human spaceflight opportunities in both the public and rapidly growing private sector, notes the paper: “AstroAccess: Testing accessibility accommodations for disabled and mixed-ability crews operating in space-like environments.”
That exclusion is due to perceptions that Disabled individuals “lack the physical endurance or capacity to function in extreme environments, ability to perform rigorous or dexterous athletic activity, or the ability to operate effectively as part of a team with nondisabled individuals,” the paper explains.
“Such perceptions are born from broadly pervasive and harmful societal assumptions about their ability to act and live independently,” the paper points out, “and from the lack of motivation on the part of individuals and institutions to invest in making the necessary modifications to our physical environments and daily behaviors required to make society more accessible.
NASA Gallaudet research participants chat in sign language while sitting in a zero gravity aircraft before take-off.
Image credit: U.S. Navy/Gallaudet University collection
While no public space agency has yet to “officially” fly a Disabled astronaut, the paper observes that individuals with conditions that may be considered disabilities in some contexts have been to space. They include NASA shuttle astronaut, Rich Clifford, with early signs of Parkinson’s, NASA’s Scott Kelly with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Haley Arceneaux of the private Inspiration4 mission, a bone cancer survivor with an artificial femur.
Gallaudet Eleven
The paper spotlights NASA’s own history, flagging the space agency’s recruitment of the “Gallaudet Eleven.” This select group of deaf men back in the 1960s offered NASA insight into the effects of spaceflight on the body.
“Since they had sustained damage to their vestibular systems, they were immune to motion sickness and therefore able to endure physical challenges while being subjected to rotation, high acceleration forces, and weightlessness they may experience in space without becoming nauseous,” the paper reports.
“Unfortunately, this very advantage which made them excellent candidates for research,” the paper adds, “would have disqualified them from applying for astronaut candidacy.”
Image credit: AstroAccess
Ambassadors for microgravity
Fast forward to today.
Enter AstroAccess with its mission to allow the next generation of disabled scientists, students, athletes and artists to see that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is truly possible for them.
To bolster the cause, AstroAccess is advancing research on disability and human spaceflight by flying Disabled researchers on parabolic flights that produce stints of weightlessness.
Called the “Ambassadors,” these specifically recruited individuals came from three broad categories: Blind/Low Vision, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and Mobility Disabilities.
“These categories do not represent the full spectrum of types of disabilities, but it was necessary to limit the scope of our efforts given the small size of the flight crew and the initial questions we wished to investigate,” the paper elucidates.
Evolving project
Since October 2021, AstroAccess Ambassadors have participated in five parabolic flights making use of the Zero Gravity Corporation’s spiffed up G-FORCE ONE Boeing aircraft.
Among the findings is that communication and way finding are primary challenges to mixed ability crews. Furthermore, for inclusive human spaceflight, redesign of emergency response systems is critical. Also, redundancy using varied solutions is key to accessible design and operations.
In 2007, wheelchair-bound theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking floated freely during a zero-gravity airplane flight. Hawking said of the experience: “For me, this was true freedom. People who know me well say that my smile was the biggest they’d ever seen. I was Superman for those few minutes.” (Image credit: Steve Boxall/ZERO-G Corporation via AstroAccess)
“This has been an evolving project over several years and multiple Zero-G flights, and our research has only touched the surface of topics to study in accessible human spaceflight,” said Jamie Molaro, a research scientist at the Planetary Science Institute.
Molaro is lead author of the research paper on AstroAccess that details the results from initial investigations.
Molaro told Inside Outer Space that the research project has spurred interest in building upon findings so far. “We’ve already seen discourse building around Disability within the public and private space sectors as a result,” Molaro said.
To learn more, go to “AstroAccess: Testing accessibility accommodations for disabled and mixed-ability crews operating in space-like environments” appearing in Acta Astronautica at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576524000699#sec2
For more information on AstroAccess, go to:
Starman coming your way. Image credit: SpaceX
A Tesla roadster is headed for a possible speeding ticket as it is cruising toward Earth at nearly 6,000 miles per hour.
On February 6, 2018 SpaceX launched the automobile on a Mars-crossing orbit.
But the car may hit the Earth… sometime within the next 15 million years – so don’t panic.
Random walk
Hanno Rein is at the University of Toronto’s Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences in Canada.
Rein and colleagues in 2018 wrote “The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets” – as published in the journal, Aerospace.
Dummy-carrying Tesla served as a dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy test flight.
They investigated the fate of the Tesla Roadster launched by SpaceX, with a caveat. “On timescales significantly longer than a century, continued close encounters will render precise long-term predictions of the object’s chaotic orbit impossible.”
First close encounter
Rein’s assessment implies the dynamical half-life of the Tesla to be 15 million years, similar to near Earth asteroids decoupled from major escape routes from the main belt.
On its celestial highway, the Tesla has been out and about for over six years.
According to Ben Pearson at Whereisroadster.com, the Tesla’s location is 64,332,500 miles from Earth, moving toward Earth at a speed of 5,849 miles per hour.
The roadster’s first close encounter, coming within a lunar distance of the Earth, will occur within the next 100 years, Rein and colleagues reported.
Image credit:
Roadster Tracker/Ben Pearson
Arguably, that’s just in time for a SpaceX Starship to rendezvous with the Sun-baked electric sports car for a battery charge!
To keep an eye on the space jaunting Tesla, go to:
https://www.whereisroadster.com/
For the paper — “The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets” – go to:
Shenzhou-17 space station crew in celebration mood.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The Spring Festival, which centers around the Chinese New Year, is being celebrated by China’s Shenzhou-17 space station crew: The Year of the Dragon
Festive decorations have been placed inside the Tiangong space station.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Chinese astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin pasted Spring Festival couplets on the walls of the station’s Tianhe core module, the Wentian experimental module, and the Mengtian experimental module.
Traditional New Year’s Eve dinner had the crew consume festive food such as dumplings, osmanthus cheese rice cakes, and other favorite snacks.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
In good health
This marks the third time that Chinese astronauts have celebrated the Spring Festival in space, far from Earth, following the Shenzhou-13 and Shenzhou-15 missions of the previous two years.
“After having been in orbit for more than 100 days, the entire astronaut crew is in very good working condition, physical and mental condition, and are in good health,” Wang Chunhui, deputy chief designer of astronaut system at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center told China Central Television (CCTV).
“They will resume work on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year and make a lot of preparations in advance for the following extravehicular missions and some on-orbit experiments,” said Wang.
The now-orbiting Shenzhou-17 crew was launched on Oct. 26 last year, with the three crew members assigned a six-month mission aboard the Tiangong space station.
Go to video at:
China space station is captured in this photo taken by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew.
Image credit: CMS
