China confirms the launch of astronauts to its space station on Thursday

China confirmed the launch on Thursday at 09:22 (01:22 UTC) of three astronauts to its space station under construction, for an initial three-month mission.

The three astronauts, all male, will launch from the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert (northwest), the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) announced at a press conference. They will board the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft, propelled by a Long March 2F rocket, which will dock with Tianhe (“Heavenly Harmony”), the only module of the space station already in orbit.

Tianhe, the astronauts’ command center and living quarters, was placed into low Earth orbit (at an altitude of 350-390 km) at the end of April. On board, the astronauts will be kept busy: maintenance, equipment installation, spacewalks, preparation for upcoming construction missions and crew stays.

The Shenzhou-12 mission is the third of 11 launches that will be needed to build the station between 2021 and 2022. Four crewed missions are planned in total.

In addition to the already deployed Tianhe module, the two remaining modules—which will house laboratories—are scheduled to be launched into space next year. These will enable experiments in biotechnology, medicine, astronomy, and space technologies. Amidst tensions with the West, the mission’s success is a matter of prestige for Beijing, which is preparing to celebrate the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on July 1st. AFP

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