Humankind's presence in outer space has tremendously increased, thanks to the deployment of three Chinese astronauts to China's space station, said a French astronaut.
"The population of humans in space grew by 43 percent this week, with China launching three astronauts to their space station," Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut now on board the International Space Station, wrote on his Twitter account on Friday. "All spaceflight is an incredible achievement. I imagine the trio enjoying the view of their capital city Beijing and Tianjin from Earth orbit."▲ Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, June 17, 2021 shows China's Shenzhou XII manned spaceship having successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe. Photo/Xinhua
The Chinese crew's planned three-month stay will offer scientists more insights into the living, work and health conditions of an astronaut in microgravity, which in turn "will be useful for future moon missions or Mars missions or further afield", Paul Francis, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, told Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.
