Shenzhou XVII mission to begin soon

The six-month-long Shenzhou XVII mission will be the nation's 12th manned space mission and the sixth crewed flight to Tiangong.

The Shenzhou XVII crew, whose names have yet to be disclosed, will take over the massive orbital outpost from their peers in the Shenzhou XVI mission: mission commander Major General Jing Haipeng; Colonel Zhu Yangzhu, who is spaceflight engineer in the team; and Professor Gui Haichao, the mission's science payload specialist.