2016年CRI More Details Unveiled about China's Space Plan

 

As part of the plan, the latest step will be the launch of the second space lab, the Tiangong-2, which is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

Shortly afterward¹, the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft is due to carry two astronauts to dock with the lab sometime before the year is out.

The plan is to have them stay inside the new lab for 30 days, doubling the previous Chinese record for the longest manned space mission.

Nie Haisheng, chief of China's astronaut brigade, says staying in space for a longer period of time comes with a number of challenges.

"Firstly, we have to ensure the health and survival of our astronauts in orbit over the long-term. Secondly², we have to improve our monitoring and controls in our spacecraft. As we continue to build the space station, there will be a lot of equipment to move up there. This means they will have to spend more time in orbit inside the space station, as they will have to spend a lot of time setting-up and maintaining the equipment."

Nie Haisheng was in command of the Shenzhou-10 mission that completed the manned docking to the Tiangong-1 space lab in 2013.

He says the Chinese astronaut corps³ is also training to complete more space-walks.

"During the Shenzhou-7 mission, we conducted a space walk and accumulated some experience. But in the future, our astronauts are going to have to complete a lot of tasks during the space walks, as they will have to deal with issues such as equipment transfers, installation, repairs, maintenance and disassembling different components⁴. We also have plans to carry out some scientific experiments outside the space capsule."

The new blueprint⁵ for the Chinese Space Station also includes the planned launch of the Tianzhou-1 cargo⁶ spacecraft, which is due to dock with Tiangong-2 in the first half of next year.

Wu Ping with the China Manned Space Engineering Office, says Tianzhou-1 is going to be critical to the construction of the space station.

"After we finish the testing of our new CZ-7 carrier rocket, we're going to use it to transport the Tianzhou 1 cargo spacecraft into orbit to dock with Tiangong-2. The flight will be a test of the key technology needed for the construction of the space station. It will also test our capasity to transport cargo and replenishing propellants in orbit."

Anything which hopes to remain in-orbit around our planet requires a form of propellant to keep it from slowly drifting into the atmosphere.

The full-scale construction of the Chinese space station is set to get underway in the next 4-years.

For CRI, this is Luo Bin⁷.

1 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

2 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

3 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

5 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

6 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

7 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。