Three astronauts are gearing up to launch to China’s space station in low Earth orbit, where they will spend six months carrying out a variety of experiments.
The Shenzhou-17 mission is set for launch on Wednesday at 11:14 p.m. ET (11:14 a.m. on Thursday Bejing time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, northwest China, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The three-person crew will ride on board a Long March 2F rocket and will reach the Tiangong space station around 6.5 hours after launch.
Shenzhou-17 is the sixth crewed mission to China’s Tiangong space station, and it includes astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin. This is Tang’s second mission on board the space station, having already spent time on Tiangong as part of China’s first crew to launch to Earth orbit in June 2021 as part of Shenzhou-12.
“Throughout the past two years, I have often dreamt of going back to space,” Tang said during a press conference on Wednesday, according to Space Daily. “The space station is our other home that takes us away from Earth and into the universe.”
The Shenzhou-17 crew will take over orbital duties from the Shenzhou-16 astronauts, who have carried out 70 experiments since launching to Tiangong in May 2023. The new three-person crew will carry out various experiments, as well as conduct a spacewalk for some maintenance work outside the space station for the first time. Tiangong’s solar wings had been repeatedly hit by tiny pieces of space debris, resulting in minor damage, according to Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of CNSA.
“Of course, we already took this into consideration in the design stage. At present, all functionality and performance indicators of the space station meet requirements,” Lin is quoted as saying in state-owned media outlet Xinhua. The extravehicular experimental maintenance, he added, is geared towards the long-term operation of the space station.
In October 2022, China launched the third and final module of Tiangong, completing the T-shaped structure of its three-module space station in low Earth orbit. China’s space agency is planning on sending another module to add to the space station, creating a cross shape instead.