China is set to launch its Shenzhou-20 mission that may carry three astronauts to the Chinese house station Tiangong at 5.17 p.m. on April 24 native time (0917 GMT), state media mentioned on Wednesday.
The predominant goal of the mission is to finish the in-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-19 crew which is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng touchdown website on April 29, China Manned Space Agency officers mentioned at a press convention broadcast on CCTV.
The Shenzhou-20 spaceflight from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China will carry astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, CCTV mentioned.
The spaceflight will likely be Chen Dong’s third and the primary for the opposite two – an area engineer and a former air pressure pilot.
They will conduct house science and utility experiments, set up an area particles safety system in addition to extravehicular payload and tools, and carry out restoration duties.
The mission may even deliver with it zebrafish, planarians and streptomyces as analysis objects to hold out three life science experiments on the house station.
The crew, scheduled to return to the earth in late October, can count on a resupply mission by way of the unmanned Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft.
The nation’s fourth batch of astronauts set to take part in Shenzhou spaceflights is at the moment in coaching, that includes for the primary time astronauts from China’s particular administrative areas of Hong Kong and Macau, in addition to Pakistan.
The Hong Kong and Macau astronauts are prone to perform their first mission as early as 2026, state media reported.
China mentioned the collection of the Pakistani astronauts is underway. Both international locations signed an settlement for house cooperation in February.
One of the 2 Pakistani astronauts that may be a part of the Chinese missions is set to concentrate on payloads and scientific analysis aboard China’s house station.
Published – April 23, 2025 03:52 pm IST
