Taikonauts Cai Jiuzhe, Chen Dong and Liu Yang will go to the Tiangong National Orbital Station of China as part of the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft mission. This was announced on Saturday by the deputy head of China’s Manned Space Flight Program Administration, Lin Xiqiang, at a press conference dedicated to the upcoming flight.
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The launch of Shenzhou-14 is scheduled for June 5 at 10:44 local time (5:44 Moscow time). It will be carried out from the launch pad of the Jiuquan Cosmodrome, which is located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The carrier rocket “Changzheng-2F” will launch the ship into orbit. The new crew is expected to stay at the station for six months.
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“Chen Dong will act as commander of the ship,” Lin Xiqiang said.
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For him, flying into space will be the second in his career. And as a crew commander, he will fly for the first time. Chen Dong in 2016 participated in the flight of the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, which docked with the Tiangong-2 orbital laboratory 2 days after launch. On it, Chen Dong, as part of the team, conducted a number of scientific studies. The mission lasted 33 days.
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Liu Yang is the first female taikonaut in Chinese manned spaceflight history.
The third taikonaut Cai Jiuzhe will fly into space for the first time.
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There were already two crews at the Tiangong station. The first is in 2021, the second is from October to April 2022.
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The base module for it was launched into orbit on April 29 last year. The creation of a full-fledged orbital station will end this year, when two more laboratory ones will dock to the base module.
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Tiangong will be located at an altitude of 400 km, its total weight will be about 90 tons. The station will be 5 times smaller than the ISS. She will be able to receive three crew members permanently and up to 6 when changing the composition of taikonauts.
