China will launch Shenzhou-19 spacecraft early morning October 30

China today (October 29) announced the launch time and crew of the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft in a launch mission scheduled for early tomorrow morning (October 30).

At a press conference held on the morning of October 29 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province, Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson for the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA), said that the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft will be launched at 4:27 a.m. on October 30 , Beijing time.

Shenzhou-19 crew. (Photo: CMSA).

The mission will be carried out by the crew commander Cai Xuzhe , a veteran astronaut who flew on the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022, and two astronauts who flew into space for the first time , Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze. In addition to the crew commander, the other two astronauts are both from the 9X generation and are China's third generation of astronauts.

Among them, female astronaut Wang Haoze used to be a senior engineer at the country's leading space contractor - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). She is the only female space engineer in China today and also the third woman in the country to carry out a space flight mission.

According to spokesman Lin Xiqiang, after entering orbit, the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft will dock and automatically fast-dock with the Tianhe core module in about 6.5 hours, forming a three-ship and three-cabin complex . 'During its stay in orbit, the Shenzhou-19 crew will pick up the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft, and plan to return to the Dongfeng Landing Site in late April or early May 2024' .

According to the spokesperson, after completing the handover with the Shenzhou-19 crew, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft currently on the Tiangong space station are expected to return to Earth on November 4. 86 space science and technology research experiments will be carried out during the Shenzhou-19 mission.