The three Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gai Haichao are now in space. After the launch from the Jiuquan space base, they took a few hours to arrive at the space station Tiangong. There they met three other Chinese. UP IN THE ROOM TUESDAY: The three Chinese Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu are now in the room. On board the station Tiangong, the old crew was waiting for the new one. The three in the old cast are Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. Chinese astronauts are called taikonauts. There are now six of them in the room. That is, until Saturday. Then the old crew comes home. IN PLACE: The current crew of the Chinese space station Tiangong-2. Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. In addition to these six, on Tuesday there were eleven astronauts of different types, and from different nations, on board the International Space Station, ISS. This means that at one point there were 17 people in the room. Divided into two space stations. It was a record. NOT FROM STAR TREK: This is a radar image of the Chinese space station Tiangong. It is taken from the ground. Six Chinese will soon be in this station. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP Russians There are also cosmonauts in space. That is, Russian astronauts. They are part of the current crew of the International Space Station. The three are Dmitri Petelin, Sergey Prokopyev and Anna Kikina. There is one Japanese in the room. Koichi Wakata from Jaxa. He is aboard the ISS as part of the current crew. There are also three Americans in the ISS as part of the crew. It’s Frank Rubio, Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann. COOPERATING WELL: Now it is Russians, Americans and one Japanese who ensure that the ISS is in good condition. Photo: Nasa Turister In the room there were also three paying passengers and their pilot. They were launched with a Dragon spacecraft from the company SpaceX. The pilot is the very experienced former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. Now she works for the company Axiom Space. On May 21, Whitson and her three passengers went up to the room. On Tuesday morning, the four were also in the ISS. That means it was pretty tight there. On Tuesday at 3 pm Norwegian time, the four boarded their spacecraft again. They were supposed to land on Earth. CROWDED: There are now eleven people in the International Space Station, ISS. Photo: Nasa / AP First woman Two of the passengers on the tourist trip did not use their own money. The Saudi Arabian Space Commission has posted. It’s a lot of money. The exact sum is secret, but during the last trip each seat cost in excess of half a billion kroner. The two from Saudi Arabia are Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni. He who pays everything himself is the American John Shoffner. Barnawi became the first woman from Saudi Arabia in space. TOURIST TOUR: Peggy Whitson on the left in the picture works for the money. Rayyanah Barnawi is on the far right. Photo: AP Long since last The old record was set on 14 March 1995. Then there were thirteen people in the room at the same time. Seven were in the US space shuttle Endeavour. Three Russians stayed in the space station Mir. One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts were simultaneously pressed together in the Soyuz TM21 vessel. COULD CARRY MANY: There was room for as many as seven people in the space shuttle. Photo: NASA Or maybe not It could be that the US authorities believe that the new record was set on 25 May. It depends on the definition of where the space begins. The Americans set the limit at 80 kilometers. Most of the rest of the world thinks 100 kilometers is the right one. If the Americans are right, then for a short period on 25 May there were as many as 20 people in the room. The vessel VSS Unity from Virgin Galactic was carrying six people when it was out in “American space” for a few seconds. Unity was at its highest 87 kilometers above the ground. SIX PEOPLE: They got to experience microgravity and the view of Earth from the outside, but only the Americans think the crew of the VSS Unity was out in space. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP A record for falls It is unlikely that the new record will last long. There is a lot of activity in space travel at the moment. India is a new country that is close to sending its own into space. Then we will get Indian astronauts, gaganauts. The Chinese have big plans. It is possible that the Chinese space station will be expanded. China is also going to the moon by the end of this decade. SpaceX has ambitions to send many people into space at the same time. The company will use its new spacecraft Starship for this. The vessel is not yet operational. If Starship becomes operational, one of the early voyages will be a trip around the moon with ten people.
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