Shenzhou-12 to carry three Chinese astronauts to space after a gap of five years

In the coming days, a Chinese spaceship will launch from the Gobi Desert, carrying three men to an orbiting space module for a three-month stay, marking the first time China has deployed humans into space in over five years.

The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO), according to CGTN, has transported the Long March-2F Y12 rocket, which will carry the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft, to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

According to the report, this spaceship will transport three astronauts to Tianhe, China's space station's main module. By the end of 2022, the space agency hopes to have completed its space station. Shenzhou-12 is the third of eleven missions that are required to complete the station.

Four of these missions will be with human on-board missions, with the potential to launch up to 12 Chinese astronauts into space. which is more than the 11 men and women China has launched into orbit since 2003.

The projected three-month stay will beat China's previous record of 30 days, established by Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng on their 2016 journey to a prototype station, which was China's last crewed trip.

Yang Liwei, head of the China Manned Space Engineering Office and China's first astronaut, told the state-run news outlet Global Times last month that three men from China's first and second sets of astronauts will be on this mission.

According to the Global Times, the Long March-2F carrier rocket has four 2.25-meter boosters. This rocket has the capability of launching 8.6 tonnes into low Earth orbit. The Long March-2F carrier rocket has a length of 58.34 metres and a diameter of 3.35 metres.

Internationally, Chinese astronauts have maintained a low profile. NASA astronauts have not visited the more than two-decade-old International Space Station, which has been visited by more than 240 men and women of various nations, due to a US law prohibiting NASA of any interaction with China.