The crew of China’s Shenzhou 16 mission captured incredible images of the Tiangong Space Station as they departed on their way back to Earth.
The photographs, taken with a high-definition camera, represent the primary time the complete structure of the Tiangong space station has been fully imaged because it arrived in orbit.
Prior to disembarking, the Shenzhou 16 team handed control of the space station over to the Shenzhou 17 crew, who arrived at Tiangong on Oct. 26. The three taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) consisting of commander Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao then left Tiangong on Oct. 30 within the Shenzhou 16 return capsule and arrived back from low-Earth orbit on the identical day.
As they made their way toward Earth, the crew turned their cameras toward their former temporary home, capturing breathtaking views of the laboratory in orbit above Earth.
Related: China’s Shenzhou 17 astronauts arrive at Tiangong space station (video)
Positioned at 217 and 280 miles (340 to 450 kilometers) over the planet, the primary unit of the Tiangong often called Tianhe arrived in low-Earth orbit in 2021. Its first crew, Shenzhou 12, arrived on the space station on June 16, 2021. They spent 90 days on the station, which was 3 times longer than any prior taikonaut mission.
The second and third units of the space station, Wentian and Mengtian, were launched in 2022 and 2023, respectively. This accomplished the 180-foot (55-meter) long station, which weighs 77 tons and is about 20% as large because the International Space Station.
Since then, Tiangong — whose name means “Heavenly Palace” — has hosted a rotating crew of three taikonauts who’ve performed a number of essential science experiments, something the CMSA goals to take care of for a minimum of a decade.
The crew of Tiangong 16, the fifth team to inhabit the space station, continued the scientific exploration conducted aboard the space station by conducting a spacewalk, growing vegetables, and conducting a live lecture from space during which they demonstrated lighting a match in microgravity.
The stunning Shenzhou 16 images may capture Tiangong in its full glory because it is currently, but when the CMSA gets its way, the image will soon be old-fashioned. On Oct. 4 on the forty seventh International Astronautical Congress in Baku, the space agency revealed it intends to expand the space station with an additional three modules, bringing its total unit count as much as six.
Along with this, the CMSA intends to send Tiangong some company in the shape of a Hubble-class space telescope called “Xuntian” that may orbit Earth alongside the space station and will probably be able to meeting up with it for repairs, refueling, and even upgrading.