China is getting ready for its next mission.
China's human spaceflight agency announced (opens in new tab) that a Long March 7 rocket carrying a robotic cargo spacecraft rolled out to its pad at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island.
The space station is expected to be launched late on Friday. There will be supplies for the upcoming six-month-long crewed mission, which could launch as soon as November.
News about China's space program.
China has a cargo capacity of 15,200 lbs. with a weight of 29,760 lbs. A total of 6,900 kilo tons.
After the launch earlier this month of its third and final module, named Mengtian, China moved to a side port on the space station to make way for the arrival of the fifth module.
China has 10 space station missions. The launch of the core module was the first of its kind. A number of cargo and crew missions led to the addition of the Wentian and Mengtian experiment modules.
Three astronauts from the Shenzhou 14 crew are currently at thegong. The first crew handover aboard Tiangong will take place before the end of the year.
China plans to operate and keep Tiangong occupied for at least 10 years.
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