What it’s: China’s Tiangong area station.
When it was taken: Oct. 30, 2023.
The place it’s: Low-Earth orbit, between 210 and 280 miles (340 and 450 kilometers) above Earth’s floor.
The place it was taken: Shenzhou 16 return module.
Why it is so particular:
That is the primary clear {photograph} of China’s accomplished Tiangong area station, which turned totally operational final 12 months. The satisfyingly symmetrical picture was taken by Chinese language astronauts, or taikonauts, as they left the station after a five-month keep on board the orbiting habitat.
Tiangong station, which suggests “heavenly palace” in Chinese language, is made out of three modules: Tianhe, which was launched in April 2021; Wentian, which was launched in July 2022; and Mengtian, which was launched in October 2022. The completed station is 180 ft (55 meters) lengthy and weighs 77 tons (70 metric tons), which makes it round one-fifth the load of the Worldwide Area Station, in accordance with Stay Science’s sister web site Area.com.
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The picture was taken by the Shenzhou 16 mission’s crew — Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao — shortly after they left the station of their return module.
The crew later had an unsettling journey again to Earth as one of many pod’s parachutes ripped open on descent, which triggered the module to land with a thump within the Gobi Desert, Area.com reported. However the passengers have been unhurt.
Whereas they have been in area, the Shenzhou 16 crew accomplished a variety of attention-grabbing experiments, together with rising lettuces and tomatoes, in addition to lighting a match to create a dangerous fireball.
