The Shenzhou-15 spacecraft will launch at the Chinese space station on November 29 at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT), the China Manned Space Agency announced on Monday. This is the last mission in China’s plan to complete the crewed orbital outpost.
At a press conference, the agency said that Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu, all men, will be on board.
The three astronauts who arrived in early June will deliver the space station to them in a week.
According to Ji Qiming, a spokesperson for the agency, “during the stay, the Shenzhou-15 crew will welcome the visiting Tianzhou-6 cargo ship and hand over the Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship and are planning to return to China’s Dongfeng landing site in May next year.”
According to Ji, “the space station combination is currently in a stable status with all equipment operating well and is prepared for the crew handover, docking, and rendezvous.”
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China started building the three-module space station in April 2021 with the launch of the Tianhe module, which houses the astronauts’ primary living space.
The final two laboratory modules, Wentian and Mengtian, where scientific experiments will be conducted, were launched in July and November, respectively.
As NASA’s ISS is getting older and may cease operations by the end of the decade, China’s plans for low-Earth orbit will reach a turning point with the completion of the space station, which is planned to last at least 10 years.