China successfully launches Shenzhou-19 spacecraft into orbit

Chinese manned spacecraft "Shenzhou-19" with three astronauts on board has docked with the orbital station "Tiangong". This is reported by Xinhua News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.

The spacecraft was launched on October 30 at 04:27 Beijing time (October 29 23:27 Moscow time) from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in the northwest of the country using a Changzheng-2F launch vehicle. Approximately 6.5 hours later, docking occurred with the Tianhe module of the Tiangong station.

Taikonauts replaced the crew of "Shenzhou-18", which will return to Earth on 4 November. It is noted that the manned mission was the fourth after the beginning of the operational phase of the Chinese station "Tiangong".

Cai Xuzhe (mission commander), Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, the first female member of the station's crew, have arrived at the orbiting laboratory. They will be there for about six months, conducting space research and engaging in extravehicular activities.

Zhang Wei, a researcher from the Technology and Engineering Centre for Space Utilisation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the Shenzhou-19 mission brought fruit flies into space for the first time as part of a series of space biology experiments. Scientists created an environment with a weak magnetic field to observe the growth, development and behaviour of the insects under the said conditions.

Photo: Xinhua News Agency