China to launch next crewed mission on Sunday to build space station

By Liangping Gao and Yew Lun Tian

BEIJING – China will launch a spacecraft on Sunday carrying three astronauts to the core module of the unfinished Chinese language house station, the place they are going to work and dwell for six months as building enters superior phases.

A Lengthy March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft is about to blast off from Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Centre within the northwestern province of Gansu at 10:44 a.m. native time (0244 GMT) on Sunday, a China Manned House Company official informed a information convention on Saturday.

Mission commander Chen Dong will likely be accompanied by Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe aboard Shenzhou, that means “Divine Vessel” in Chinese language.

“All preparations for the launch are mainly prepared,” mentioned Lin Xiqiang, an company official.

Shenzhou-14 would be the third of 4 crewed missions – and the seventh of a complete of 11 missions – wanted to finish the house station by the tip of the 12 months.

China started setting up its three-module house station in April 2021 with the launch of Tianhe – the primary and largest of the station’s three modules.

Tianhe, barely bigger than a metro bus, will type the residing quarters of visiting astronauts as soon as the T-shaped house station is accomplished.

Following Shenzhou-14, the remaining two modules – the laboratory cabins Wentian and Mengtian – will likely be launched in July and October, respectively.

Wentian will function a robotic arm, an airlock cabin for journeys outdoors of the station, and residing quarters for an extra three astronauts throughout crew rotations.

The Shenzhou-14 crew will assist with the setup of Wentian and Mengtian and conduct performance checks on each modules.

The house station may have a designed lifespan of a decade. At 180 tonnes, it is going to be barely heavier than Russia’s decommissioned Mir, and about 20% of the Worldwide House Station by mass.