China launches Shenzhou 13 astronauts on historic mission to new space station

The nation’s Shenzhou 13 spacecraft was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert today,rising off the pad(發射臺)atop(在……頂上)a Long March 2F rocket at 00:23 Oct.16 local time.

Shenzhou 13 and its three passengers—commander Zhai Zhigang,Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu—are headed toward Tianhe,the core module(艙)of the Tiangong space station that China is building in low Earth orbit.

After reaching orbit,Zhai reported the crew was doing fine and all systems were nominal.

Tianhe has only been aloft(在高空中)since April,but the module has already hosted one crewed visit—Shenzhou 12,which was launched in June and returned to Earth last month.The three-month mission was China’s longest-duration human spaceflight to date,but Shenzhou 13 will wreck that record,racking up six months aboard Tianhe(“Harmony of the Heavens”).

Shenzhou 13 will break new ground in another way as well:Wang will become the first woman to live aboard the core module.(The Shenzhou 12 crewmembers were all men.)

This is the second spaceflight for the 41-year-old Wang.She also flew on Shenzhou 10,which visited China’s Tiangong 1 prototype(雛形；原型)space lab for two weeks in 2013.

Zhai,55,is also a spaceflight veteran(經驗豐富的人),having served on the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008.During that three-day flight,he conducted China’s first-ever spacewalk.

Shenzhou 13 is the first spaceflight for Ye,who is 41.

Zhai,Wang and Ye will be busy during their six months in orbit.They’ll spend a lot of time testing and validating(證實；確認)technologies that will allow China to finish construction of the new space station,which is called Tiangong(“Heavenly Palace”).That station will consist of three modules;the other two are expected to launch toward the 54-foot-long(16.6 meters)Tianhe next year.

1．Who conducted China’s first-ever spacewalk?

A．Yang Liwei B．Wang Yaping C．Zhai Zhigang D．Ye Guangfu

2．Which is NOT true according to the passage?

A．The Shenzhou 12 crewmembers were all men.

B．This isn’t the first spaceflight for the 55-year-old Zhai.

C．This is the second spaceflight for the 41-year-old Wang.

D．Shenzhou 13 is the second spaceflight for Ye.

3．What’s the meaning of the underlined words?

A．break B．crash C．destroy D．damage

4．The passage is probably taken from________.

A．a textbook B．a newspaperC．a handbook D．a poster in a college