China gears up for launch of Shenzhou-13 manned spaceflight mission

A month after China declared the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceflight mission a complete success, the next version of manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-13, is set to fly astronauts to the national Tiangong orbital station, news agency Sputnik reported on Thursday. Notably, Shenzhou is a spacecraft developed and operated by China to support its crewed spaceflight program, China Manned Space Program. Its design resembles the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but it is larger in size. According to the statement released by China's Manned Space Program, the Long March 2F carrier rocket was delivered to the Jiuquan spaceport in the northwest. The space agency informed that all infrastructure was in good shape, with all arrangements prepared for the launch.

Meanwhile, the China National Space Administration informed that the manned spacecraft would carry three Chinese astronauts to the Tianhe core module of the national space station. It said that the astronauts would be at the Tianhe core module for at least 180 days before returning, twice as long as the previous crew. When the news agency queried about the launch date, the space agency said that the date is yet to be finalised. The space agency said that it was expected to finish assembling its first space station in lower Earth orbit by 2022. The country has planned several missions, both cargo ship and crewed ones, in 2021 and 2022 to complete the construction. According to a news service based in Beijing, CGTN, the China National Space Administration has uttered its hope for global assistance and non-Chinese spacewalkers are being trained for future space station missions.

China's Shenzhou-12 mission crew return to earth

Notably, three Chinese astronauts completed their three-month Shenzhou-12 mission and returned to Earth safely earlier on September 17. According to a report by Global Times, the capsule transporting Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The three taikonauts came out of the return capsule one hour and 40 minutes after the touchdown, Global Times published mentioning the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

Further, the Chinese media said each crew member was assigned several pharmaceutical staff to conduct preliminary fitness check-ups, as well as air-condition tests and the capsule's attitude upon its return, to double-check if there was any risk for the secure exit of the crew.

With inputs from ANI

Image: ANI