China to launch its fourth manned mission for space station

Beijing/Jiuquan: China on Tuesday announced plans to launch its fourth manned mission to replace the crew of its space station and named a three-member squad, including a woman, to man the low-orbit station for the next six months.

China's crewed spaceship Shenzhou-19 is scheduled to be launched at 4.27 am (Beijing Time) on Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the country's northwest, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced.

The launch will use a Long March-2F carrier rocket, said Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of CMSA, at a press conference at the Jiuquan centre.

Shenzhou-19 is the 33rd flight mission of China's manned space programme and the fourth manned mission during the application and development stage of China's space station.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-19 spaceship will perform a fast-automated rendezvous and docking with the front port of the space station core module Tianhe in about 6.5 hours, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Lin as saying.

Lin said the three Chinese astronauts who will take part in this manned mission were Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze.

While Cai who took part in the Shenzhou-14 space mission in 2022 will be the commander, Song was a former air force pilot, and Wang previously served as a senior engineer at the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Wang, who is currently China's only female space flight engineer, will become the third Chinese woman to embark on a crewed spaceflight mission, Lin said.

They will replace three astronauts who have been manning the station for the past six months and will return to the Earth in the coming days.

Lin said the new astronauts would carry out 86 space science research and technology experiments covering various fields, including space life science, micro-gravity fundamental physics, space material science, space medicine, and new space technologies.

The Shenzhou-19 crew will also conduct structural analysis of protein crystal growth and non-equilibrium dynamics of soft matter under micro-gravity conditions, Lin said.

China is currently the only country to own a space station. The International Space Station (ISS) of Russia is a collaborative project of several countries.

China Space Station (CSS) is also expected to be a competitor to the ISS built by Russia.

Observers say CSS may become the sole space station to remain in orbit once the ISS retires in the coming years.

The significant feature of China's space station is its two robotic arms, especially the long one which can grab objects including satellites from space.

Earlier this month, China announced its plans to further develop its space programmes in the next few decades, including launching a manned lunar mission, construction of a lunar space station, exploration of habitable planets, and extra-terrestrial life.

Besides building its space station, China has launched several space missions, including a lunar probe that collected samples for the first time from the far side of the moon and brought them back to the Earth for scientific studies.