09 June 2022
Taikonauts of the Shenzhou 14 crew will carry out 24 in-orbit medical experiments during their 6-month stay on China's space station. These space medical experiments are mainly designed to study how the weightless environment and spaceflights affect taikonauts, said Li Yinghui, Deputy Chief Designer of China's manned space programme taikonaut system. Compared with missions, the SZ-14 will collect body fluid samples, including taikonauts' blood, urine, and saliva. The trio will also use non-invasive optical methods to measure muscle loss and analyze urine metabolites.
During the first days of their stay, the taikonauts were busy unpacking and transferring goods from the 2 cargo crafts: TZ-3 and TZ-4. Each of the two cargo craft contains several metric tons of fuel, which will gradually be pumped into Tiangong to sustain its flight, and hundreds of packages containing the astronauts' daily necessities and personal belongings.
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