The Shenzhou-17 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 11:14 a.m. Thursday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, announced the China Manned Space Agency on Wednesday.
Chinese astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin will carry out the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceflight mission, and Tang Hongbo will be the commander.
As the commander of the Shenzhou-17 mission, Tang Hongbo will be the first astronaut to return to China's space station.
Tang joined the second batch of Chinese astronauts in 2010, and flied to space for the first time in the three-month Shenzhou-12 mission in June 2021, the first crewed mission for China's space station construction.
“In order to return to my space home, I have spent the past two years racing against the clock. I have always reminded myself that my body can lose weight but my mind can never lose weight. Only by putting in all my efforts can I live up to my times and dreams,” Tang Hongbo, the astronaut, said.
Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin are new comers to space. They joined China's third batch of astronauts in September 2020.
“At this moment, I feel extremely excited. Being able to go into space for my country is an unparalleled glory an unparalleled mission, an unparalleled honor,” said Tang Shengjie.
“I am particularly fortunate to have caught up with a good era, which has provided us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase our talents. We will run bravely with a spirit of struggle to live up to the times,” Jiang Xinlin said.
The Shenzhou-17 astronauts will perform various in-orbit space science and application payload tests and experiments. The crew will stay in orbit for about six months.
They will carry out extravehicular activities, install extravehicular payloads and conduct space station maintenance and other tasks. For the first time, the astronauts will do extravehicular experimental maintenance.
China will launch an extension module at an appropriate time and upgrade the basic configuration of the space station from the current T shape to a cross shape.
The extension module will install space science experiment cabinets and large extra-vehicular experiment equipment in multiple fields with expanded application scale to meet the new needs of space science research and application.
The Shenzhou-16 crew is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site on Oct. 31, after completing the in-orbit work handover to the Shenzhou-17 crew.
