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ChinaScience

China space missions aim to break 2021 record, with first ever double-crew orbit also in works

  • China topped the world with 55 space missions in 2021 – top rival America was at second spot with 43
  • Ambitious new plans for 2022 revealed in China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation blue paper

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The crewed spaceship Shenzhou-13, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, is launched from northwest China’s Gobi Desert in October 2021. Photo: Xinhua
Erika Na
China is aiming for more than 50 space missions once again this year, alongside 140 spacecraft launches and the completion of its Tiangong space station.

Plans also include having six astronauts from two separate crews carry out space missions in orbit simultaneously, in a first for China.

The ambitious new plans from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) are an extension of the country’s high-performing track record in 2021, when it launched the highest number of space missions globally.

The plans were revealed in the CASC’s report titled “Blue Paper on China’s Space Science and Technology Activities”, reviewing space activities in 2021 and announcing aims for the current year.

Construction of the Tiangong space station will be completed this year by manned spacecraft through six missions, the paper released on Wednesday said. The Tianhe core module will be the control centre for all six missions, with the Wentian and Mengtian modules as the main experimental platforms.

“When completed, the space station … will have living space big enough for three astronauts for a longer period, and six astronauts for shorter stays,” Bo Linhou, vice chief designer of the space station, said.

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