MOSCOW, 16 Sep. The manned spacecraft Shenzhou 12 has separated from the main module of the Chinese orbital station Tiangong for return to Earth, the Chinese newspaper Global Times reported. The spacecraft with three astronauts on board successfully separated from the Tianhe module on Thursday morning. It is noted that the crew was in orbit for 90 days, setting a record for the duration of the stay of Chinese astronauts in space in one flight. Three cosmonauts from the PRC worked at the station — members of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft Nie Haisheng, Liu Bomin and Tang Hongbo. The first time astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo left the main module «Tianhe» of the Chinese orbital station «Tiangong» under construction in open space on July 4, this was the first extravehicular activity for astronauts from the Middle Kingdom in 13 years. They have been in orbit after successfully transferring from the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft to the main Tianhe compartment of the Tiangong station under construction on June 17, 2021. Construction of the Chinese multi-module Tiangong orbital station officially began on April 29 this year, when at The main module Tianhe was successfully launched into orbit. The construction of the station is expected to be completed by 2022, with a total of 12 missions expected to be completed. The station will be able to simultaneously be three cosmonauts or six people during a crew change.
Chinese cosmonauts went into outer space for the second time from their station It is planned that in 2022 the Wentian laboratory module and the Mengtian research module will be docked to the station, in 2025 the Xuntian autonomous astrophysical module is to be launched, which will periodically dock with the station for maintenance The main module of the station, 16.6 meters long and 4.2 meters in maximum diameter, was named «Tianhe», now it is the largest spacecraft created in China. It houses the control and management center and the main living space for the crew (about 50 square meters), as well as some scientific and technological experiments. In addition to the main module, living space is also provided in the experimental compartments, so its total area will be about 110 square meters. The main module is equipped with two docking stations for experimental compartments, as well as three ports for docking manned and cargo ships.
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