China is expected to launch a manned spacecraft with three astronauts on board at 9.22 am on Thursday from the Gobi desert, an official at the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
The Shenzhou-12 – Divine Vessel in Chinese – manned spaceship will be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the CMSA announced on Wednesday
On board will be three male astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, chosen after a rigorous array of tests.
The three astronauts will be taken into space for the construction of China’s space station, the Xinhua news agency said. “After entering orbit, the spaceship will conduct a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the in-orbit space station core module Tianhe, forming a complex with the core module and the cargo craft Tianzhou-2.”
The astronauts aboard Shenzhou-12 will be stationed in the core module and remain in orbit for three months.
The Shenzhou-12 crew will live on Tianhe, “Harmony of the Heaven”, a cylinder 16.6m long and 4.2m in diameter.
Tianhe is the first module that will eventually form China’s own three-module space station, which it began building in April.
Shenzhou 12 will be the third of 11 missions to complete China’s space station.
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