BEIJING: The Shenzhou XIX spacecraft, China’s next manned mission, is scheduled to be launched in the coming days to transport three astronauts to the Tiangong space station, according to plans announced by the China Manned Space Agency.
The mission crew’s spacecraft and its carrier, a Long March 2F rocket, were moved to the service tower on Tuesday afternoon at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert, the agency said in a brief news release, adding that the launch equipment at the spaceport “is in good condition”. The release noted that the spacecraft and rocket will undergo final functional checks over the next several days. It said the launch will take place in due course.
The Shenzhou XIX crew will carry out China’s 14th manned spaceflight and will become the eighth group of inhabitants of the Tiangong.
The crew members, whose names have yet to be disclosed, will take over the massive orbital outpost from their peers — mission commander Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu and crew members Lieutenant Colonel Li Guangsu and Lieutenant Colonel Li Cong — who arrived on April 26 with the Shenzhou XVIII mission. By the end of October, Ye’s team will have been in orbit for six months. Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Magazine, said the Shenzhou XIX astronauts will likely be tasked with conducting scientific experiments and technological tests that will be more sophisticated and challenging than those performed by their peers in previous missions. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
