New mission to complete space station

BEIJING: China was to launch a spaceship yesterday night carrying three astronauts on a mission to complete the nation’s first space station and begin its operations, with President Xi Jinping pledging to make the Asian country a space power.

A rocket carrying the Shenzhou-15 spaceship was scheduled to lift off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China’s northwest province of Gansu at 11.08pm, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

Once the spaceship docks with the Tianhe core module, it will complete the Tiangong space station. The three Chinese astronauts will join three others who have been aboard since June.

The three male astronauts on the latest mission, all members of the People’s Liberation Army, will stay in the space station for six months and replace the other three.

The T-shaped space station has two lab modules and the astronauts will conduct more than 40 experiments in the fields of space science research, medicine and technology as well as extravehicular activities.

Ji Qiming, assistant to the CMSA director, told a press conference on Monday that China will welcome astronauts from other countries to conduct experiments on the space station and many nations have expressed their readiness.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said earlier this month the Tiangong space station is the first one open to all United Nations member states, and science experiments from 17 countries, including Germany, Italy, Poland and Switzerland will be conducted on it.

The Chinese space station, which is expected to operate for up to 15 years, could become the only one after the International Space Station concludes its mission. Earlier this year, Russia announced its withdrawal from the ISS, after 2024.