The Tiangong Space Station is adorned with festive red color as seen on the footage from the China National Space Administration as the Chinese astronauts celebrate the Lunar New Year in space for the first time.
Chinese state media CCTV reported in a recent update that the Shenzhou 13 astronauts are the first batch to celebrate the holiday in orbit. Commander Zhai Zhigang wished everyone a Happy New Year, good luck, and an auspicious Year of the Tiger. He is joined by two other Chinese astronauts in the core module.
Students watch a live image of a lesson by Chinese astronauts from China's Tiangong space station, at a school in Yantai in China's eastern Shandong province on December 9, 2021.
How Did the Chinese Astronauts Celebrate the Lunar New Year?
Shenzhou 13 astronauts were given the supplies to celebrate the Lunar New Year in the Tiangong Space Station. Evening Sunday reported that the astronauts decorated the place with traditional red festival elements to mark the festive celebration in space.
Commander Zhigang led the festivities with his co-astronauts, namely Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, by putting up decorations in the core module that includes red couplets, traditional new year painting, and the Chinese character "Fu," which means "happiness."
The decorations and goods used during the celebration were brought to the space station by three astronauts. Among the foods they shared were dumplings of three flavors, a traditional food Chinese feast during the lunar new year celebration.
Shenzhou 13 mission was launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gobi Desert on October 15, 2021, and is scheduled to stay on the space station for six months.
Shenzhou 13 Mission
According to Space.com, the Shenzhou mission has broken a record in Chinese astronomy after recruiting Wang, who became the first woman to live aboard the core module. The Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, aim to stay on the Tiangong Space Station for roughly six months, twice the duration of the Shenzhou 12 mission, which is comprised of an all-male crew.
The current Shenzhou 13 taikonauts have already accomplished so much since their stay a few months ago. They were able to conduct a spacewalk in November, live stream a science lecture for Chinese students in December, and manually flew a cargo last month to test the docking and emergency procedures in the space station.
With the current milestones that taikonauts are achieving and the increased activities of the country in terms of space exploration and cybersecurity, other governments and space agencies are also expressing their concerns. It is already a given since it seems space has become the new battlefield as countries seek space superiority with their crewed missions, especially on lunar and Mars missions.
The Tiangong Space Station is an independent project of the Chinese government since NASA is prohibited from using federal funds for direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government under the 2011 Congressional directive or otherwise known as the Wolf Amendment. That is why China is not a partner on the International Space Station and does not collaborate with robotic missions.
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