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China’s Shenzhou 18 mission recently conducted an emergency drill to improve readiness aboard the Chinese space station.
Shenzhou-18 Commander Ye Guangfu and crew members Li Cong and Li Guangsu conducted the exercise in mid-July to practice procedures in the event of a decompression incident aboard the Tiangong Space Station.
The crew worked with the ground team in Beijing and simulated the entire emergency response process to a simulated scenario of space debris hits Tiangong and causes decompression.
After the alarm was raised, each crew member quickly donned masks that were connected to the air supply. They then set out to find the source of the leak and successfully sealed it with the support of engineers back on Soil.
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The crew of Shenzhou 18 launched to Tiangong end of April. Combating the threat of space debris is a major theme of the mission. The trio has so far embarked on a couple of spacewalks to install shielding to protect Tiangong from space debris and to inspect the exterior of the space station.
The first of these extraterrestrial activities, in May, set off a national spacewalk endurance record of approximately 8.5 hours.
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The Shenzhou 18 astronauts also performed a number of other tasks, including replacing experimental samples and undergoing mental assessments.
The trio recently completed research for an “In-orbit Emotion Recognition and Evaluation of Astronauts,” according to CCTV+This included questionnaires about emotional states and will be used to help researchers study and assess the impact of long-term space missions on the mental health of astronauts.
The Shenzhou 18 mission will last about six months. The crew will then welcome the Shenzhou 19 astronauts aboard Tiangong and hand over control of the station. China completed the three-module Tiangong space station in 2022 and aims to keep the orbital outpost permanently occupied for at least a decade.