BEIJING, April 23. /TASS/. On April 24, China will launch its Shenzhou 20 spacecraft with three taikonauts on board on April 24, Deputy Director of China Manned Space Agency Lin Xiqiang said.
"The launch of Shenzhou 20 will take place on April 24, at 5:17 p.m. Beijing time [9:17 a.m. GMT]," he told reporters.
The spacecraft will be launched atop the CZ-2F/G carrier rocket, from the Jiuquan space center. The docking with the Tianhe core module of the space station will take place approximately 6.5 hours after the liftoff.
Its crew will comprise Commander Chen Dong, operator Chen Zhongrui, and science operator Wang Jie. Their mission in space will continue until mid-October.
The Shenzhou 19 mission, currently at China’s orbital station, will return to the Earth on April 29, the Chinese official added.
Currently, three people are aboard the Tiangong space station: mission Commander Cai Xuzhe, operator Song Lingdong, and flight engineer Wang Haoze.
The Chinese station is located at an altitude of about 400 kilometers and will operate for more than 10 years. It is designed for three people (up to six for short periods when crews rotate). The mass of the complex in the shape of the letter T (in the foreseeable future it is planned to expand it into a cruciform shape), which has three docking nodes and an airlock to enter space, is 66 tons, the volume of the compartments reaches 110 cubic meters. The orbital facility became operational in 2022 and has been available for international projects ever since.