China to launch Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship on Nov. 29

A press conference on the Shenzhou-15 spaceflight mission is held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Nov. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

JIUQUAN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Shenzhou-15 crewed spaceship will be launched at 11:08 p.m. Tuesday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, announced the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Monday.

The spaceship will take three astronauts -- Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu -- to carry out the Shenzhou-15 spaceflight mission. Fei will be the commander, said Ji Qiming, assistant to the director of the CMSA, at a press conference.

The crew will stay in orbit for about six months.

The launch will be carried out with a Long March-2F carrier rocket, which will be filled with propellant soon, Ji said.

According to him, after entering orbit, the Shenzhou-15 spaceship will make a fast, automated rendezvous and dock with the front port of the space station's core module, Tianhe.

A press conference on the Shenzhou-15 spaceflight mission is held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Nov. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Lei)

The space station will then be expanded to its largest configuration with three modules and three spaceships, having a total mass of nearly 100 tonnes, Ji said.

During their stay in orbit, the Shenzhou-15 crew will witness the arrival of the Tianzhou-6 cargo craft and Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship. They will also have a work handover with the Shenzhou-16 crew in orbit.

The Shenzhou-15 astronauts will return to the ground in May next year according to the plan, he said.

The space station combination is now in a stable status with all equipment functioning well, ready for the rendezvous-and-docking of Shenzhou-15 and the following crew rotation, he added.

The Shenzhou-15 crew is now in good shape. Product qualities of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship and Long March-2F carrier rocket are under control. Facilities and equipment of the ground system are performing well, and all launch preparations are in order.

The Shenzhou-14 crew plans to complete the in-orbit work handover in a week, and then return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.