The crew of China's Shenzhou-23 space station has completed an assessment of emergency decision-making and emotional state testing, as part of a broader effort to study how long-term spaceflight affects behavior, the China Manned Space Agency.
The three crew members, including a female member from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, have been aboard the Tiangong space station for nearly two months.
One of them will stay in orbit for a year to carry out China's first human spaceflight research program and collect data on astronauts' long-term spaceflights.
In a recent weekly video released by CMSA the crew was seen wearing sensors and virtual reality (VR) headsets to monitor brain waves.
The tests are part of more than 100 science and application projects underway at the station.
In addition to space medicine, the crew also installed a biological radiation exposure research device and an external camera in one of the space station's laboratory modules, and conducted tests on the measurement instruments carried as mission payload.
According to the agency, a new type of energy storage battery will be tested in orbit, and the results are expected to support future upgrades to the space station.
China launched the Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft on May 24. One highlight of the mission is the planned one-year stay in orbit for one of the crew members. Previous manned missions to Tiangong lasted about six months.
As China continues to pursue its ambitions in deep-space exploration , long-duration missions are expected to become more frequent, placing increasing demands on the physical and mental endurance of its astronauts.
