As of 11:14 on December 27, 2023, the astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin of the "Shenzhou 17" crew have flown for 62 days, more than 40% of the mission schedule, and the crew is about to usher in the Gregorian New Year in orbit for the first time.
Unlike on the ground, the Chinese space station, which lives nearly 400 kilometers above the surface, can see the skyline farther away, and can see the dawn of the New Year earlier, which means that the astronauts of the "Shen XVII" crew will become the first Chinese to usher in the first ray of sunshine of the New Year. The upcoming New Year's Day of 2024 is the first space New Year's Day in the life of the "Shen XVII" crew, and according to tradition, they will open the ground for them to prepare New Year's gifts, and they will feel the joy of unpacking the gifts once. Far from the surface of the earth, there are long intervals between supplies, and the astronauts' most wanted New Year's gift may be fresh fruits and vegetables, and this wish is about to come true.
At the far end of the picture is the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft.
It is expected that in mid-January 2024, the Tianzhou-7 cargo spacecraft will be launched by the Long March 7 Yao-8 carrier rocket from the Wenchang launch site to carry out the sixth cargo mission of the space station mission, which will send the latest supplies for the "Shenzhou-17" mission, including the long-awaited fresh fruits and vegetables and other fresh goods for the astronauts.
Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft.
Before the Tianzhou-7 spacecraft goes up, the Tianzhou-6 spacecraft will be evacuated from the space station to make room for the former docking port. Prior to this, the astronauts of the "Shen XVII" crew would pack and fix the reserved garbage, waste and other items in the spacecraft. It is expected that in January, the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft will be unlocked and separated from the rear port of the core module of the space station.
At present, the "Shen 17" crew's on-orbit mission has been in a good situation, and a large number of scientific experiments and technical tests will be carried out in the future, as well as a number of out-of-cabin activities and application payload out-of-cabin missions. New Year's Day 2024 is coming next week, and I wish the "God XVII" crew and ground support team a happy new year!
Author: Mulan Xingzhou.