What will life be like for the astronauts on China space mission?
The three astronauts on board Chinas Shenzhou-12  which left earth at 9.22am on Thursday (June 17) from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in the Gobi Desert  assembled at 5am at the nearby Wentian Pavilion for breakfast ahead of the morning ceremony. According to the Our Space media centre  the official account for commander Nei Haisheng and his crew, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo  the astronauts would eat lunch on board the Shenzhou spacecraft. They entered the core module of Chinas in-progress space station, in plenty of time for dinner after the launch vessel successfully completed its docking manoeuvre. During their three months on board Tianhe, the core module for the Tiangong  heavenly palace  station, the astronauts will perform two spacewalks. The backup female astronaut nicknamed Steel Rose  While all eyes on Thursday were on the primary crew for the mission, another three astronauts were selected as backup. Among them was Wang Yaping, who became Chinas second woman in space in 2013. Wang  affectionally known as Steel Rose among Chinas online community  is the only woman chosen for the latest mission and received significant public attention ahead of the launch. She is able to fly four types of aircraft, and has also taken part in a rescue mission during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake , as well as cloud and rain reduction efforts for the Beijing Olympics. Female astronauts are uncommon in China. In 2020, when China announced that 18 new astronauts had been selected as the third group of candidates for the countrys manned space mission, only one was a woman. Observers of the pre-launch ceremony noted that each of the astronauts was carrying a small, rectangular box as they prepared to embark upon their journey. According to experts, the boxes were handheld, portable devices with a power supply and fan to ventilate the astronauts spacesuits before they entered the cabin. PHOTO: South China Morning Post  According to Gao Xu, deputy chief designer, the spacecraft has fully automatic navigation capabilities  like a supercar that can automatically make calculations regarding how and when to reach the destination. PHOTO: South China Morning Post  Shenzhou-12 is expected to stay in orbit for three months, so it has been specially designed with thermal control solutions to adapt to external heat conditions. PHOTO: South China Morning Post  For the first time, two spacecraft entered the launch field  the second was on standby in case of emergency. Under the rolling standby plan, the backup spacecraft will remain on site with an 8.5 day emergency launch capability. The astronauts had to train with the two craft in parallel so they would be familiar with both in the event of an emergency. What operating system does Shenzhou-12 use  Rather than the commonly used Windows or Linux operating systems, Shenzhou-12 uses spaceOS, developed to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 35 deg to 70 deg C (minus 31 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit) and with anti-radiation, anti-vibration, and anti-static abilities. Computers cannot be shut down, reset, or calibrated in space and here are no resources available to change computer parts, so any problems will require immediate fault detection. While Windows-based computers can manage multiple tasks simultaneously, the emphasis in space is on practicality. A space operating system concentrates on essential tasks to reduce the chances of system failure  so no music player or video games are included. Computers in space also need fast response times, making Linux  which is not an instant operating system  unsuitable. The space system has strict time regulations because even a millisecond of time wasted can cause a great deal of damage in space. The Tianhe core module was designed to maximise comfort for the astronauts during their three-month stay. While Tiangong-1  Chinas prototype space laboratory which was decommissioned in 2018  had a living space of just 15 cubic metres (529 cubic feet), the astronauts on board the Tianhe will have 110 cubic metres. According to Peoples Daily, Tianhe has three single bedrooms and one bathroom, along with a treadmill and exercise bike for the astronauts to keep fit. A handout photo. Inside the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft as it was launched on top of the Long March-2F Y12 carrier rocket. PHOTO: Reuters via CCTV  The dining area features a kitchen equipped with a water station and devices to heat and freeze food, as well as a folding table where the astronauts can eat. More than 120 types of nutritious foods with a long shelf life are available in the cabin. Each astronaut has a handheld terminal with an app to control cabin lighting or to switch between work, sleep and exercise modes, depending on their personal needs. To shower, the astronauts will have to spray themselves with a spray gun before wiping themselves clean. To rest, they will have to position themselves within sleeping bags, but can sleep lying down rather than standing up. In addition to their space duties, the Peoples Daily report said the astronauts had also been training for another role  as barbers for each other during the mission. Because individual strands of hair would drift away in the weightless environment of space, their equipment includes a vacuum-like device to catch any stray hairs. The cabin is fully equipped with Wi-Fi, and the astronauts can maintain a Wi-Fi connection even after leaving the cabin. Bone conduction headphones are used to communicate with each other and the command centre on Earth, but a private voice channel has also been reserved for the astronauts to call their families. The term taikonaut has emerged as an informal way of referring to a Chinese astronaut. Although the origins of the name are unclear, it was reportedly first coined by Malaysian journalist Chiew Lee Yih in 1998 and is more commonly used in the West than in China. Taikonaut is a combination of the Mandarin word for outer space and the Greek word for sailor. This article was first published in South China Morning Post.