Xinhua
Shenzhou-13 crew members became the first Chinese to spend the nation’s most important festival — the Chinese Lunar New Year — in outer space. Onboard China’s space station core module, about 400 km above the Earth, taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu extended their Spring Festival greetings in a video released by China Manned Space Agency on New Year’s eve. They wished the motherland and all Chinese people prosperity.
Commander Zhai, a Chinese calligraphy afficionado, while displaying a pair of couplets said: “I wish all of you good health and good luck in everything you do.” Dressed in festive costumes, Wang, with a red balloon in hand, wished children across the country “vigorous and healthy growth.” Ye held a sticker with the Chinese character “fu,” meaning good luck, and wished the Chinese people “a happy Lunar New Year and a happy family.” Though far from home, the festival sentiments are the same. The taikonauts have decorated the orbiting core module with red lanterns, Chinese knots and paper-cut craft. The three will also enjoy the traditions they usually share with their families on Earth — eating dumplings, wearing new clothes and pasting spring couplets on walls. The taikonauts will eat dumplings with three kinds of stuffing: pork and cabbage, Spanish mackerel and daylily. On Oct. 16, 2021, the Shenzhou-13 mission sent the three taikonauts into the space station, for a six-month stay — the longest-ever duration in the country’s manned space program.
