China Launches Third Crewed Mission to New Space Station
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China launches third crewed mission to new space station:
China launches third crewed mission to new space station
The astronauts lifted off on the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft at 10:44 a.m. local time, launched by a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia.
The team will live and work at the Tiangong Space Station's Tianhe core module for six months before returning to Earth in December. Tiangong means Heavenly Palace.
The crew includes Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, who are expected to dock with the space station about 6.5 hours after launch.
Chen, the mission commander, was aboard China's Shenzhou-11 manned space mission in 2016 and previously held the record for longest stay in space by a Chinese astronaut. Liu became the first ever Chinese woman in space in 2012 on the Shenzhou-9 mission. And this will be Cai's first mission in space.
[...] At the end of the Shenzhou-14 mission, another three astronauts are expected to rotate and live with the crew for five to 10 days, bringing the number of Chinese astronauts in space at the same time to a record six.
[...] Once construction is completed, the Tiangong space station is expected to last for 15 years. China plans to launch two crewed missions and two cargo missions to the station every year, according to the CMSA. [China's Manned Space Agency]
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