On May 30, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft with three astronauts. This made it possible to break the record for the number of people orbiting the Earth at the same time.

Shenzhou-16 was launched from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome on a Changzheng-2F rocket. The team included Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao. Second, he became the first civilian teikonaut in history. Previously, the Celestial Empire only sent army officers into space.

The purpose of “Shenzhou-16” is to return the crew of the orbital station “Tiangong”. Expedition participants will spend about 180 days in space. Its main duties will be to protect the station and conduct scientific experiments.

The record for the number of people in orbit

The launch of Shenzhou-16 made it possible to renew the record for the number of people in orbit at the same time. There are currently 17 people there, while the previous success was 14 people. Six Chinese, five Americans, three Russians, two astronauts from Saudi Arabia and one astronaut from the UAE left as follows.

But in the near future, the number of people in space will decrease to ten people. On May 30, the Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth with four members of the Ax-2 special expedition. Shortly after that, the three-teiconaut “Shenzhou-15” will return to Earth.

It is worth noting that in addition to the record for the number of people in orbit, there is also the record for the number of people in space at the same time. Success was set in December 2021. Then for a few minutes there were 19 people in space. Of these, 10 were on the ISS, 3 aboard the Tiangong station, and six aboard the New Shepard spacecraft, which made suborbital tourist flights.