China sent its second manned mission to the Tiangong space station on Friday, with the crew including the station’s first female Taikonaut, Wang Yaping.
The crew of the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft is set to stay on the Tianhe core module for 183 days – the longest in Chinese history – before returning to Earth in April 2022.
Zhai Zhigang is 55 years old, Wang Yaping 41, and Ye Guangfu are 41.
In September, after spending three months in Tianhe’s space station, the crew made their way back to Earth. They were the first to experience life aboard Tiangong’s space station.
New crew members will conduct orbital spacewalks and test different technologies. Wang is the first Chinese female taikonaut who has ever attempted a spacewalk.
China will continue to add modules to the station over the next few years and manned missions are set to continue, with the second crew’s six-month stay to become the norm moving forward, according to the Global Times. China believes Tiangong will have its entire crew by 2022.
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