This year's National Day holiday, Chinese astronauts spent the first time in space. The China Manned Space Engineering Office officially released the photographs taken by the astronauts of Shenzhou 14 in orbit.
The official Weibo of China Manned Space Engineering Network @Manned Space Small Speaker posted the photos taken by the Shenzhou 14 astronauts in orbit. There are a total of 12 photos, one of which is a tomato planted by astronaut Cai Xuzhe on the Chinese space station.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, the seeds carried by astronaut Cai Xuzhe have grown into two green space lettuces after nearly three months of planting and cultivation and were eaten on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In 2016, Chinese astronauts tried growing vegetables in space for the first time. Improvements have been made in water retention, ventilation, and slow-release fertilizers. Astronauts only need to spend 10 minutes a day on the treatment according to regulations.
In the next few months, the Chinese space station will carry out three major launch missions. Among them, the Mengtian experimental module will be launched in October and docked with the core module of the Chinese space station. After the Mengtian experimental module is launched, it will eventually form a T-shaped configuration with the Tianhe core module and the Wentian experimental module, which also marks the completion of the National Space Laboratory.
:My country will also implement the launch of the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft. The flight crew of the Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft will consist of three astronauts and will join the Shenzhou 14 at the end of this year. By then, the Chinese space station will have six astronauts staying in orbit together.
At present, the astronaut crew of Shenzhou 14 is stationed in orbit. On June 5, the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft was successfully launched. Three astronauts, Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe, have since started a six-month mission.