Russian spacecraft will not be able to get to China’s Tiangong Orbital Station due to location spaceports in Russia. Yang Yuguang, a spokesman for China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), announced this on Tuesday, May 10, on Chinese television.
“In the future, it will be possible to launch manned and cargo spacecraft (to Tiangong – Ed.) from the territory of other countries. But in the case of Russia, there is a factor that must be taken into account. The territory of Russia is located at a very high latitude, and for docking to Chinese space station, we have a simple requirement: the latitude at which the launch pad is located should not be at a latitude higher than 42 degrees, this is the difficulty with Russia,” Interfax quoted Yang Yuguang as saying.
In June last year, the head “Roskosmos” Dmitry Rogozin announced negotiations on sending Russian cosmonauts to the Chinese orbital station.
The representative of CASIC noted that other countries, in particular European ones, which have a spaceport in French Guiana, will be able to launch spaceship to Tiangong station. The situation is similar between Japan and the USA. China, he said, is considering nine proposals from seventeen countries for experiments on the orbital station, these initiatives are supported by the UN.
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30 years of the Mir space station: how it was
Soviet outpost
The idea to create a permanent orbital space station originated in the USSR back in the 1970s. Thus, the Soviet Union wanted to surpass the US in the race for dominance in outer space. In 1986, Moscow launched the Mir complex, the most complex of all previously existing stations, into orbit.
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30 years of the Mir space station: how it was
The international cooperation
After the end of the Cold War, Russia faced a shortage of resources. The era of international cooperation began on Mir. For example, the American shuttle Atlantis made several flights to the station (pictured). The station weighing almost 140 tons was also visited by four German cosmonauts.
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30 years of the Mir space station: how it was
Numerous visitors
Among those who worked at the Mir complex is the German astronaut Reinhold Ewald (on the photo – 2nd from the right in the top row). He arrived at the station in 1997 on a Russian Soyuz. In total, more than 100 astronauts from different countries visited the Mir. While Ewald was there, a fire broke out at the orbital station, which, however, was quickly extinguished.
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30 years of the Mir space station: how it was
Failures, breakdowns, malfunctions …
Among other things, Mir is the record holder for the number of breakdowns. The materials from which the station was made quickly wore out. Either the coolant leaked, the on-board computer turned off, and once the Progress transport ship damaged the solar panels during docking (pictured). The orbital station is “not a waiting room with plush chairs,” astronaut Reinhold Ewald noted at the time.
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30 years of the Mir space station: how it was
On the way to the ISS
The United States, which partially financed the work of the Mir station after the collapse of the USSR, insisted on the joint creation of a new international space station. With the beginning of the construction of the ISS in 1998, the gradual dismantling of Mir also began. For 15 years spent in orbit, Mir has made more than 86 thousand revolutions around the globe.
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30 years of the Mir space station: how it was
End of pilot project
The Mir station is considered an important stage in the development of international cooperation in space exploration. “Without this experience, we would still be at the very beginning of the journey,” says German astronaut Thomas Reiter. On March 23, 2001, the Mir, which had worked three times longer than originally scheduled, was sunk in the South Pacific Ocean. Author: Nicholas Martin, Alexandra Yolkina
Author: Nicholas Martin, Alexandra Yolkina
