There aren’t any astronauts at the moment aboard China’s new house station, however a stowaway on a current cargo mission is now inhabiting the orbital outpost.
Cameras aboard the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft present a stuffed toy cow tucked away amongst provides and tools. Tianzhou 3 docked with the Tianhe module, the core module of China’s Tiangong house station, on Sept. 20 in preparation for the upcoming Shenzhou 13 crewed mission, which is at the moment scheduled to launch Oct. 16.
The cow was doubtless chosen as a result of this 12 months being the 12 months of the Ox within the 12-year sequence of animals within the Chinese language zodiac.
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The plushie can be strapped in, quite than being a “zero-g indicator,” as seen on some American missions, that may start to drift when experiencing weightlessness, or microgravity.
And it isn’t the primary to go to China’s house station. Shenzhou 12 astronaut Liu Boming took a small plush cow to Tianhe and launched it throughout a video tour. Liu took the cow again to Earth with him on Sept. 17.
By the point the following crewed mission, Shenzhou 14, launches round Might 2022, will probably be the 12 months of the Tiger, so count on a striped stuffed toy to be alongside for the mission.
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