On May 30, China's Shenzhou 16 manned spacecraft was successfully launched. The three Chinese astronauts will start their six-months space adventure in China’s Tiangong Space Station. One of their important tasks in space is to display the winning works of Tianhe Award in the “My Dream” Painting Competition for African Youth launched in March this year.
The award ceremony will be held in September this year, during which Chinese astronauts will talk to African youth, and show them the exhibition of African youth’s paintings in the Tiangong Space Station. A Chinese astronaut who has returned to Earth after a previous space trip will attend the event in Beijing, and take questions from African youths via video link.
If you are interested, please send your question along with your name, grade, your school name and location as well as your contact information to the Chinese Embassy in South Africa via email: [email protected]. You are kindly required to send email no later than June 30, 2023. And be sure to use “African youths’ dreams fly to space” in the subject line.
The Shenzhou-16 astronauts are expected to make high-level scientific achievements in the study of novel quantum phenomena, high-precision space time-frequency systems, the verification of general relativity, and the origin of life.
China will launch an extension module at an appropriate time and expand the basic configuration of the space station from the current T shape to a cross shape to further support the in-orbit scientific experiments and create better working and living conditions for astronauts.
With the ability to carry out crewed missions on a regular basis with a frequency of twice a year, China is looking forward to and welcomes the participation of foreign astronauts in the country's space station flight missions.
It is the first crewed mission for the application and development stage of China's space station, and the 29th flight mission since the country's manned space program was approved and initiated.
INTENSIVE TASKS
During their mission, the Shenzhou-16 astronauts will conduct large-scale in-orbit tests and experiments in various fields.
"The crew will conduct more than 50 in-orbit tests and experiments on space science and application payloads, the highest so far by any Chinese team who has been to space," said Huang Weifen, chief designer of the China manned space program's astronaut system.
They are expected to make high-level scientific achievements in the study of novel quantum phenomena, high-precision space time-frequency systems, the verification of general relativity, and the origin of life.
Like its predecessors, the crew will give space class to students on Earth and conduct other public welfare activities, Huang said.
They will also carry out in-orbit health monitoring and physical exercises, training and rehearsals, extravehicular activities as well as equipment installation, debugging, maintenance and repair, and material management.
In order to improve the quality of work and life of the astronauts in the space station, the diet of the astronauts has been optimized.
"We have developed 11 types of new food, and the Shenzhou-16 crew will enjoy more than 150 kinds of food and drinks," Huang said.
The Chinese Embassy in South Africa