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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
Jiuquan, October 30 (Xinhua) — The crew of the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft will deliver four mice to the Chinese space station for scientific research, a key element in a series of new scientific and practical projects to be implemented during their six-month stay in orbit, the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) announced on Thursday.
This will be the first time that China will conduct a scientific experiment involving mammalian rodents in space, CMSA spokesman Zhang Jingbo said at a press conference held a day before the launch of the Shenzhou-21 mission.
He said the mice (two males and two females) will be kept in orbit, and the research will focus on studying the effects of space conditions such as microgravity and confined spaces on the animals' behavior.
The mice will then be returned to Earth on a spacecraft, and further scientific research will then be conducted to study the stress response and adaptive changes in numerous tissues and organs of the mice in space conditions, he added.
Four mice were selected after more than 60 days of intensive physical fitness and cognitive training. They will be part of five- to seven-day scientific experiments in space, helping fill a gap in research involving small mammals aboard China's Tiangong space station.
Previous animal experiments at the Chinese space lab have included zebrafish and fruit flies.
The launch of the Shenzhou-21 manned spacecraft is scheduled for 11:44 PM Beijing Time on Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang will carry out the Shenzhou-21 mission.
The 27 new experiments in orbit that will be conducted by astronauts during the mission cover areas such as space life sciences and biotechnology, space medicine, space materials science, microgravity fluid physics and combustion, and new space technologies.
CMSA also outlined planned in-orbit studies of the relationship between the origin of genetic codes and chirality, lithium-ion batteries for space applications, and intelligent computing platforms.
It is noteworthy that crew member Zhang Hongzhang, a payload specialist, is a researcher in the field of new energy sources and new materials at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
During the Shenzhou-21 mission, his ideas developed on Earth are expected to yield results in the orbital laboratory, as the experiments he designed will be conducted on the space station.
He will be responsible for conducting experimental procedures, making observations, collecting data, and processing and analyzing data.
“It is a great honor for me that the experimental project to which I contributed will be carried out in space,” said the scientist-turned-astronaut. -0-
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