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China sends up three astronauts to complete space station

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BEIJING (AFP, XINHUA) - China on Sunday (June 5) launched a rocket carrying three astronauts on a mission to complete the construction of its new space station, state broadcaster CCTV said, the latest milestone in Beijing's drive to become a major space power.

The trio blasted off in a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan launch center in north-western China's Gobi desert, with the team expected to spend six months expanding the Tiangong space station.

Shenzhou-14 mission commander Chen Dong, 43, and team mates Liu Yang, 43, and Cai Xuzhe, 46, all from China’s second cohort of astronauts, will live and work on the space station for six months before returning to Earth in December with the arrival of the Shenzhou-15 crew.

The trio will cooperate with the ground team to complete the assembly and construction of the  space station, developing it from a single-module structure into a national space laboratory with three modules – the core module Tianhe and two lab modules, Wentian and Mengtian.

Former air force pilot Chen with Ms Liu, who became China’s first female astronaut in space a decade ago, and space mission debutant Cai, will oversee the rendezvous, docking and integration of Wentian and Mengtian with the core module.

They will also install equipment inside and outside the space station and carry out a range of scientific research.

“The Shenzhou-14 mission is a pivotal battle in the construction stage of China’s space station,” Mr Chen told a news conference in Jiuquan on Saturday.

“The task will be tougher, there will be more problems and the challenges will be greater.”

The space station is designed for a lifespan of at least a decade.

The Tianhe core module was launched in April 2021, the Wentian lab module is set to be launched in July and Mengtian in October.

The Shenzhou-14 crew will also witness, during their stay in orbit, the Tianzhou-5 cargo craft and Shenzhou-15 crewed spaceship dock with the core module.

Then, they will live and work together with the Shenzhou-15 crew for several days.

ChinaSPACE AND COSMOS