China launches Shenzhou-19 taikonauts to its space station [Long March 2F/G Y19]
China launches Shenzhou-19 taikonauts to its space station [Long March 2F/G Y19]
China has launched its eighth crewed mission to the Tiangong Space Station.
China launched its eighth crewed mission to its Tiangong Space Station at 04:27 am China Standard Time (October 29th), or 20:47 pm Universal Coordinated Time (October 30th). This new crew will take over from the outgoing Shenzhou-18 crew, after sharing the station with them for a few days.
The mission launched from Launch Area 4 of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the north of China, atop of a Long March 2F/G rocket. According to the China Manned Space Agency, the Shenzhou-19 launch mission was a complete success with plans to 'fast rendevous' with the Tiangong Space Station beginning shortly after. This rendevous brought the spacecraft close to the space station within six hours.
After completing its 'fast rendevous', docking is reported to have occurred at 11:00 am China Standard Time, or 03:00 am Universal Coordinated Time, at the Tianhe modules forward docking port. Launch to docking took a little over six hours. Leak checks took a few hours before the new crew entered the Tianhe core module.
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