China set for Shenzhou-20 spaceflight launch today

BEIJING: China is set to launch its Shenzhou-20 mission that will carry three astronauts to the Chinese space station Tiangong at 5.17pm (today) Thursday (0917 GMT), state media said on Wednesday.

The main purpose of the mission is to complete the in-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-19 crew, which is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site on April 29, China Manned Space Agency officials said at a press conference broadcast on CCTV. The Shenzhou-20 spaceflight from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China will carry astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie, CCTV said.

The crew, scheduled to return to the earth in late October, can expect a resupply mission via the unmanned Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft.

The country’s next batch of astronauts, the fourth cohort set to participate in Shenzhou spaceflights, is currently in selection or training, featuring for the first time astronauts from China’s special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Pakistan.

The Hong Kong and Macau astronauts are likely to carry out their first mission as early as 2026, state media reported. China said the selection of the Pakistani astronauts was under way. Both countries signed an agreement for space cooperation in February.

One of the two Pakistani astronauts that will join the Chinese missions is set to focus on payloads and scientific research aboard China’s space station.

Amjad Ali, Deputy Director General at Pakistan’s national space agency, said on Wednesday while attending a conference in Shanghai that over the next month, a list of five to 10 astronauts would be selected by the Pakistani side for China to then shorten to two candidates.