​On May 30, 2023, between the launch of the Shenzhou-16 crew to China’s Tiangong space station and the return to Earth of the Axiom-2 mission aboard the Dragon “Freedom” capsule, humanity had a record number of representatives in orbit. : at least 17 people! They are not all in the same place, because the mission of the taikonauts on the Chinese space station is completely separate from the mission of those aboard the International Space Station.

The previous record was 14 people in orbit at the same time, set on September 16-17, 2021 by the SpaceX Crew-2, Shenzhou-12 and Inspiration-4 missions. If you count the number of people who are in space at the same time, that is, at an altitude of more than 100 km, then the record is 19 people and was set on December 11, 2021 during the flight of New Shepard from the Blue Origin NS-19 mission, but 6 members of the NS-19 crew stayed in space for only a few seconds.

Back to the present, the new record was made possible by a commercial flight (Axiom 2) and by a crew exchange aboard the Chinese space station: the Shenzhou-16 taikonauts came aboard. Tiangong and will replace the Shenzhou-15 crew members who will return to Earth in the coming days.

Axiom Space is a company that organizes visits to the International Space Station using Dragon capsules launched by SpaceX. In this adventure, the wannabes, who are called private astronauts, are accompanied by a veteran astronaut, a former NASA employee who has flown aboard space shuttles in the past. The Axiom-2 mission commander is Peggy Whitson (1), which also includes American John Shoffner (2), as well as two Saudi Arabians: Rayyana Barnawi (3) and Ali Al-Karni (4). Rayyana Barnawi thus became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to fly into space.

The four members of the Axiom-2 mission are not the only Axiom Space clients in space: Sultan Al Neyadi (5) from the United Arab Emirates is a member of Expedition 69, the first Arab astronaut to spend almost 6 months in space, he also reached orbit after agreement concluded through the mediation of Axiom Space. Also on the International Space Station are members of the expedition: Americans Steven Bowen (6), Warren Hoburg (7) and Francisco Rubio (8) and Russians Andriy Fedyaev (9), Dmytro Petelin (10) and Serhiy Prokopiev (11). 69, which is the crew that maintains the space station and performs the science experiments assigned to each as part of their mission in orbit.

On May 30 at 01:31 UTC, a Changzheng 2F rocket (the only Chinese rocket certified for manned flight) launched the Shenzhou 16 capsule into orbit with taikonauts Jing Haipeng (12), Zhu Yangzhu (13) and Gui Haichao. (14). The rendezvous with the Tianhe module of the Tiangong space station took place at 08:29 UTC. Gui Haichao is the first civilian taikonaut. Unlike his colleagues who became astronauts after military careers, Gui Haichao is a professor at Beihang University in Beijing, and his selection as a member of the Shenzhou 16 crew is a sign that taikonaut spaceflights have been successful. become routine for the Chinese space program.

This is the first space flight for both him and Zhu Yangzhu, while Jing Haipeng is making his 4th orbital flight (following the Shenzhou 7, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 11 missions). The Shenzhou 15 crew consisting of Fei Junlong (15), Deng Qingming (16) and Zhang Lu (17) met them aboard the station. Among them, Deng Qingming has an interesting story: at 57 years old, he is the oldest taikonaut, being part of the first group of taikonauts selected by China, who, however, was unable to fly in previous missions, although he was selected as a reserve for Shenzhou 9, Shenzhou 10, Shenzhou 11 and Shenzhou 12.

Follow our Facebook page, HotNews Science, to be able to receive live information and curiosities from the world of science in real time!

Photo source: profimediaimages.ro