Shenzhou XV to begin mission to space soon

China will conduct its Shenzhou XV manned spaceflight in coming weeks, sending three astronauts into orbit for a six-month stay inside the country's Tiangong space station.

The Long March 2F carrier rocket, which will haul the Shenzhou XV into space, was moved to a service tower at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert on Monday. It will undergo final checks in the coming days, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

During the mission, the three astronauts, whose names have yet to be disclosed, will be mainly tasked with completing the in-orbit construction of the Chinese space station, according to mission planners at the agency.

Their peers from the Shenzhou XIV mission arrived at Tiangong on the evening of June 5, several hours after their spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan center. They are scheduled to continue flying with the station until the Shenzhou XV crew's arrival. The two teams are scheduled to stay together for several days aboard the Tiangong before the Shenzhou XIV crew returns to Earth.

Currently, the Tiangong station consists of the Tianhe core module, the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, the Shenzhou XIV spacecraft used to transport astronauts and the newly arrived Tianzhou 5 cargo ship.