space lab

Description

After spending their first night onbaord the Tiangong-1 space lab module, three Chinese astronauts have already begun a busy day of experiments, tests, and maintenance work. The full work load comes just a day after the crew performed the country's first manned space docking mission in space. Tiangong-1 finally gets its first tenants. The three astronauts, Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang, entered the space lab module Tiangong-1 from Shenzhou 9, three hours after a successful automatic docking procedure. Beginning at 11 am Beijing Time on Monday, the crew took shifts watching the controls. Deng Yibing, chief engineer of China Astronaut Research and Training Center, said, "Monday was the first day in space for the astronauts. It was also the busiest day for them. They even have no time to have lunch. After the successful docking, they collected air samples inside the space lab module. Results show it's comfortable to live inside the Tiangong-1, with moderate temperature, humidity and air condition." After spending the first night inside Tiangong-1, the astronauts got up at 6 a.m. to start a whole day's work Their duties include a wide range of tasks. Besides attempting a manual docking, the astronauts will conduct medical experiments, spacecraft management and other tests during their mission. Zhai Zhigang, astronaut, said, "They've done an excellent job. We show our concerns to them, together with people all over China. We want to relay the message to them; they should take care of themselves, despite the challenging tasks." Tiangong-1 has been travelling above the Earth for 262 days since it was launched in September 2011. During this 13-day mission, the astronauts will work and sleep aboard the space lab module, fulfilling even more tasks.