China's space station is expected to host six astronauts from two spaceships by the end of 2022, according to the chief designer of the country's manned space program.

The Shenzhou-13 crew has been in orbit for 140 days. They are in good health, and have so far completed all planned or added tasks as needed. They are expected to return to Earth in mid-April, Zhou Jianping said.

This year, China will launch two lab modules for the space station, two manned spacecraft and two cargo spacecraft. The Shenzhou-14 crew will witness the arrival of two lab modules during their stay in orbit, said Zhou, who is also a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body.

The Shenzhou-15 crew will fly to the space station before the end of this year and join the Shenzhou-14 crew in space. At that time, the space station will consist of three modules, two manned spacecraft and one cargo spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly 100 tonnes, Zhou said.

The space station will carry a large number of high-level space experiment devices covering fields such as the life sciences, biological science, material science, combustion science, microgravity fluid science and basic physics, he said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Related Links
China National Space Agency
The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology
China News from SinoDaily.com

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Tiangong scheduled for completion this year
Beijing (XNA) Mar 07, 2022
China's Tiangong space station is scheduled to be completed before the end of this year and will become a massive spacecraft stack with a combined weight of nearly 100 metric tons, according to a program leader. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the nation's manned space program, said the assembly phase of the Tiangong program will begin in May and will involve the launch of two astronaut crews, two space labs and two cargo ships. Zhou made the remarks on Friday afternoon at the Great Hall of ... read more