HELSINKI — China is conducting its fifth crew rotation aboard the Tiangong space station after three astronauts arrived aboard Shenzhou-19.

Six astronauts are now on board the space station after the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft docked with Tiangong at around 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 29. Astronauts were born in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Shenzhou-19 mission commander Cai Xuzhe and teammates Song Lingdong, an air force pilot, and Wang Haoze, the country’s first female space engineer, joined Shenzhou-18 astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu aboard Tiangong early October 30, after opening. the hatch of the space station.

A Long March 2F rocket launched the Shenzhou-19 crew spacecraft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on October 29, lifting off at 4:27 p.m. Eastern Time.

Cai and his colleagues will remain in orbit for about six months. Cai, 48, was a crew member of the 2022 Shenzhou-14 mission. Song and Wang, both 34, are experiencing orbit for the first time.

The Shenzhou-18 crew, which arrived in Tiangong in April, will soon hand over control of Tiangong to the new arrivals and prepare for their return to Earth. The landing is scheduled around 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 3 at the Dongfeng Landing Zone near the Jiuquan Spaceport.

Shenzhou-19 is China’s 14th crewed spaceflight mission to date. The crew will conduct a number of extravehicular activities and carry out 86 scientific experiments and projects, according to China’s human spaceflight agency, CMSEO. A number of them are related to life sciences.

“During the Shenzhou-19 mission, we will also send a submagnetic installation with fruit flies. We know that in space, for example, there is no magnetic field on the Moon, while Mars has a weak magnetic field,” said Zhang Wei, professor at the Center for Technology and Engineering for Space. space utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Television (video surveillance).

“After dispatching the fruit flies, we will observe what types of biological reactions will occur under such conditions, including their development, growth and any changes in their behavior. This will help us establish a theoretical understanding of our future exploration of the Moon and Mars,” Zhang said.

A Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is expected to be launched to Tiangong in November from Wenchang. It will carry supplies, fuel and experiments.

China approved its space station plan in 1992 and began building the three-module, T-shaped low-Earth orbit outpost in 2021. It was completed in late 2022.

CMSEO is however preparing to enlarge Tiangong in the years to come. The first step will be to send a multifunctional expansion module with six docking ports to the orbital outpost. This expansion could provide greater opportunities for international, tourism and business visits without disrupting core operations.

The agency also announced yesterday that two concepts of low-cost freight transport systems have been accepted for Tiangong. Four were under consideration during the detailed design phase. This decision reflects NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program for the International Space Station.

CMSEO selected the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft from the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS) and the Haolong cargo space shuttle proposal from the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) .

No timetable for launching the missions has been explicitly stated. The Qingzhou spacecraft’s launch vehicle, the CAS Space Lijian-2 liquid oxygen and kerosene rocket, is expected to be launched for the first time around September 2025.

The launch of Shenzhou-19 was the 52nd orbital launch carried out by China in 2024. The country had previously outlined plans for around 100 launches throughout the year. State-owned CCACs and commercial launch service providers appear to be significantly behind the planned launch rate.