China will launch a spacecraft on Sunday carrying three astronauts to the core module of the unfinished Chinese space station, where they will work and live for six months as development enters advanced stages.
A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft is set to blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern province of Gansu at 10:44 a.m. nearby time (0244 GMT) on Sunday, a China Manned Space Agency legit informed a news conference on Saturday.
Mission commander Chen Dong will be supported with the aid of Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe aboard Shenzhou, meaning “Divine Vessel” in Chinese.
“All preparations for the launch are essentially ready,” stated Lin Xiqiang, an enterprise official.
Shenzhou-14 will be the 0.33 of 4 crewed missions – and the seventh of a total of eleven missions – wanted to entire the area station by using the cease of the year.
China started out setting up its three-module area station in April 2021 with the launch of Tianhe – the first and largest of the station’s three modules.
Tianhe, barely large than a metro bus, will form the residing quarters of traveling astronauts as soon as the T-shaped space station is completed.
Following Shenzhou-14, the ultimate two modules – the laboratory cabins Wentian and Mengtian – will be launched in July and October, respectively.
Wentian will characteristic a robotic arm, an airlock cabin for trips outside of the station, and living quarters for an additional three astronauts throughout crew rotations.
The Shenzhou-14 crew will assist with the setup of Wentian and Mengtian and conduct functionality checks on each modules.
The area station will have a designed lifespan of a decade. At a hundred and eighty tonnes, it will be barely heavier than Russia’s decommissioned Mir, and about 20% of the International Space Station by using mass.
