Space program celebrates 30 years
By now, the Shenzhou XV astronauts — mission commander Major General Fei Junlong, Senior Colonel Deng Qingming and Senior Colonel Zhang Lu — have conducted four spacewalks, surpassing previous crews.
During their spacewalks, Fei's team has mounted equipment required for extravehicular scientific experiments and technological demonstrations.
Their six-month journey is scheduled to conclude around the end of May, and the Shenzhou XVI crew will take over.
Decadeslong pursuit
The origin of China's aspirations to operate its own space station can be traced back to the mid-1980s when a group of distinguished space scientists started calling for government support to open manned space programs so that China would not lag behind in the global arena of space exploration.
