Some time ago, China flew three astronauts on the Shenzhou 3 mission. They stayed at the country's space station, Tiangong, for 90 days before returning to Earth in mid-September. Of course, they took many photos of the Earth.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has shown several photos from the mission. Not only with professional cameras, some photos were taken using smartphones from the space station.
Chinese netizens learned from videos in June that the astronauts were carrying several Chinese-made devices, including the Huawei P30 cellphone.
A photo taken by astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongo from the window of Tianhe, Tiangong's main module, shows a view of China and its surroundings at night. The Taiwan area is also visible.
Earth's photo. Photo: CNSA
One of the photos of Earth also captures light bending over Earth, a phenomenon caused by light passing through sodium atoms above Earth, at an altitude of between 80 and 105 kilometers.
The Shenzhou 12 mission itself launched on June 16 and arrived in Tianh seven hours later. The three astronauts later spent a month and a half in Tianhe, the longest manned space mission China has ever launched.
While in orbit, the three astronauts carried out inspections of the space station's systems, such as testing the robot arm of the Tianhe module, managing supplies for the next mission, and testing the life support system on Tianhe. Like the astronauts on the ISS, the three Chinese astronauts also did spacewalks or walked in space.
Shenzhou 12 is one of four missions to build the Tiangong space station that China will launch in 2021-2022. To complete the construction of this ambitious project, China will launch 11 missions, including launching the three main modules of the space station.
Its construction has started since April 2021 with the launch of the Tianhe module. This city bus-sized module has been home to Nie, Liu and Tang for the past 90 days.
China plans to launch its next mission, Shenzhou 13, in October with a different crew of astronauts. The crew on the Shenzhou 13 mission are scheduled to stay in space for six months. Photos of the new Earth will be clear they will snap.
