Shenzhou XVII mission to begin soon

The Shenzhou XVII spacecraft and its carrier, a Long March 2F rocket, are moved to the service tower at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert, Oct 19, 2023. (Photo by Wang Jiangbo/For chinadaily.com.cn)

China's next manned space mission, the Shenzhou XVII, is scheduled to be launched in the coming days to transport three astronauts to the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency said on Thursday.

According to the agency, the Shenzhou XVII spacecraft and its carrier, a Long March 2F rocket, were moved on Thursday morning to the service tower at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert.

The final functions checks and all-systems rehearsal will take place in due course according to the mission schedule, it noted.

The six-month-long Shenzhou XVII mission will be the nation's 12th manned space mission and the sixth crewed flight to Tiangong.

The Shenzhou XVII crew, whose names have yet to be disclosed, will take over the massive orbital outpost from their peers in the Shenzhou XVI mission: mission commander Major General Jing Haipeng; Colonel Zhu Yangzhu, who is spaceflight engineer in the team; and Professor Gui Haichao, the mission's science payload specialist.

Jing's team has been in orbit for nearly five months and will return to Earth several days after the Shenzhou XVII crew arrives.

The new crew will be tasked with conducting scientific experiments and technological tests, the agency said.

Orbiting about 400 kilometers above the ground, the Tiangong currently consists of three major components — the Tianhe core module and the Wentian and Mengtian science lab modules — and is connected with two visiting craft, the Shenzhou XVI crew ship and the Tianzhou 6 cargo ship.