She will be accompanied by three Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft. They will work for six months on the construction of the Tiangong space station.
EFE
Wang Yaping is visiting space for the second time after being successful in 2013, when she became the second Chinese woman to leave Earth. On this occasion, your presence will be used to test equipment specially designed for women.
Only 15 women carried out spacewalks, which is in part due to “the dearth of suitable suits,” Chinese expert Pang Zhihao told local media, adding that “a suit weighing around 90 kilograms, lighter than 130 kg standard “and designed for female astronauts.
Pang assured that “women are better suited to long stays in space“Because” in microgravity, they metabolize estrogen and magnesium better than men and have low iron levels, “which makes them” less prone to thrombosis and heart problems. “
Wang Yaping is the first woman to visit Tiangong, where not only Chinese astronauts, but possibly also foreigners, are expected to visit in the next few years.
Fight cancer in space
The Shenzhou13 manned spacecraft will launch at 12:23 a.m. (BJT) on Saturday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu will perform the spaceflight mission, and Zhai will be the commander. pic.twitter.com/UB9X2gsdAt
– Chinese Embassy in Mexico (@EmbChinaMex) October 14, 2021
The Tiangong space station will also test a hypothesis formulated by Canadian doctor Tricia Larose from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Does weightlessness prevent tumor growth?
The project consists of sending healthy and cancerous organoid cell tissue from the same person into space to study the different mutations they undergo in weightlessness and under the effect of cosmic radiation.
Larose, based on research showing that weightlessness affects the expression of genes linked to tumor development, predicts that tumor growth will slow or even stop when they are far from Earth’s gravity.
Thisthe only women-led project accepted by Tiangong, whose crew member Wang Yaping will likely be the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk. (I)
“Coffeeaholic. Lifelong alcohol fanatic. Typical travel expert. Prone to fits of apathy. Internet trailblazer.”