Chinese astronauts in space get first e-mail from earth

Beijing: Chinese astronauts in the orbiting space module Tiangong on Tuesday received the first of its kind e-mail from earth. The Beijing Aerospace Control Centre said the e-mail contains photos, text and videos. It was sent through a special communication channel between the control centre and the space module, Xinhua reported. [caption id=“attachment_349782” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Image used for representational purpose only. Reuters”]  [/caption] Through the communication channel, astronauts can maintain instant contact with earth, which helps their work and contributes to the quality of their spare time, a statement from the centre said. The three astronauts — including the country’s first woman in space — entered the cabin of the Tiangong —1 Monday, becoming the first group of Chinese to enter an orbiter in space, shortly after a successful automatic docking between the module and the Shenzhou-9 spaceship. Deng Yibing, chief engineer of the astronaut training centre, said the environment inside the orbiter was quite comfortable, with the temperature at 22 to 23 degrees Celsius and the humidity at 40 percent. Although the astronauts experience 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours as the orbiter circles earth every 90 minutes, the three astronauts have woken up and slept in line with earth time. “They got up at 6 am Beijing time today and will go to bed in the evening,” he said. One will remain on duty while the others sleep, and the three will take turns sleeping, he said. IANS