China will launch the Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft from the Jiuquan spaceport to its space station at 5:17 p.m. on April 24, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced. After launch, the ship will make an automatic docking to the Tianhe module within 6.5 hours, creating a combination of three ships and three modules.
Mission Shenzhou-20 is the fifth manned flight of the Chinese station's exploitation and development phase and the 35th flight of the Chinese manned programme. The crew will remain in space for approximately six months, will perform scientific experiments, walks in the open space, transporting cargo and installing protective and external equipment.
During the mission, the station will receive a cargo ship Tianzhou-9 and a manned ship Shenzhou-21. Crew Shenzhou-20 should return to Earth in late October, while the crew Shenzhou-19 will land on April 29 in the area Dongfeng.
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