The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) confirmed on Thursday that the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft will be launched at 12:23 a.m. Saturday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
The spaceship will carry three astronauts – Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu – into orbit to help build China’s space station, according to Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, at a news briefing at the launch site. The astronauts will spend roughly six months in space, the longest period of time that Chinese astronauts have ever spent in orbit. The astronauts aboard Shenzhou-13 will be stationed in the core module, working and living on Earth time, Lin said. They will return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in six months, carrying the return capsule.