China to launch Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on Oct. 30

JIUQUAN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) — China’s Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 4:27 a.m. Wednesday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country’s northwest, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Tuesday.
The launch will use a Long March-2F carrier rocket, which will be filled with propellant soon, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, at a press conference.
Shenzhou-19 is the 33rd flight mission of China’s manned space program, and the fourth manned mission during the application and development stage of China’s space station.
After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-19 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the front port of the space station core module Tianhe in about 6.5 hours, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft, Lin said. ■