01 March 2016
The plan is to have them stay inside the new lab for 30 days, doubling the previous Chinese record for the longest manned space mission. Nie Haisheng, chief of China's astronaut brigade, says staying in space for a longer period of time comes with a number of challenges.
"Firstly, we have to ensure the health and survival of our astronauts in orbit over the long-term. Secondly, we have to improve our monitoring and controls in our spacecraft. As we continue to build the space station, there will be a lot of equipment to move up there. This means they will have to spend more time in orbit inside the space station, as they will have to spend a lot of time setting-up and maintaining the equipment."
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