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China has launched the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft with three taikonauts on board to its Tiangong orbital station. According to China Daily, the launch took place from the Jiuquan cosmodrome in Gansu Province in northwestern China on October 30 at 04:27 Beijing time using a Changzheng-2F launch vehicle.

The launch of the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft was broadcast by China Central Television. According to the plan, its docking with the Tiangong orbital space station ("Heavenly Palace") should take place on the same day.

The Shenzhou-19 crew is headed by Cai Xiuzhe, who in 2022 already worked at the Tiangong station for six months. The ship's crew also includes a female taikonaut, Wang Haoze, who will become the third Chinese woman to travel to space and the first female flight engineer in China. And the third member of the crew, Song Lindong, will become the first taikonaut born after 1990.

The Shenzhou-19 ship will stay at the station until the end of April or early May 2025. They will conduct 86 scientific experiments that will cover various fields, including cosmobiology, fundamental physics of microgravity, space materials science, space medicine, etc. Spacewalks are also planned, including for the installation of equipment to protect against space debris.

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Photo: ixbt.com