Under splendid blue morning skies, China dispatched its first crewed space mission in almost 5 years on Thursday, sending three science-minded military pilots rocketing to another orbiting station they’re anticipated to reach around midafternoon.
The space explorers are going in the Shenzhou-12 spaceship launched by a Long March-2F Y12 rocket that launched soon after 9:22 a.m. (0122 GMT) with ideal visibility at the launch place on the edge of the Gobi Desert.
The two veteran astronauts and a newbie making his first space flight are planned to remain three months in the Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, leading examinations, testing equipment and preparing the station for extension before two research facility modules are dispatched one year from now.
The mission brings to 14, the number of space explorers China has dispatched into space since its previously crewed mission in 2003, turning out to be just the third country after the previous Soviet Union and the United States to do as such all alone. Two space travelers on those past missions were women, and keeping in mind that this first station team is all male, females are expected to be part for future station crews.
The mission is the third of 11 arranged planed through the following year to add the extra segments to the station and send up teams and supplies. A new three-part group and a cargoship with provisions will be sent in 90 days.
The rocket used Thursday is of an alternate kind and the parts that will return are required to catch fire well before they could be a threat, said Ji Qiming, assistant director of the China Manned Space Agency.
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