Nation's Latest Space Mission Blasts Off

The nation's latest space mission blasted off on Tuesday, sending three taikonauts on a five-month spell onboard the country's space station

The Shenzhou-16 spacecraft set off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center atop a Long March 2-F rocket at about 9.30am.

Onboard are mission commander Jing Haipeng on his fourth extra-terrestrial trip, as well as engineer Zhu Yangzhu and Beihang University professor Gui Haichao, the first Chinese civilian to travel to space.

The mission is the first to the Tiangong space station since it entered its "application and development" stage, Beijing said.

Once in orbit, the Shenzhou-16 – or "Divine Vessel" – will dock at the space station's Tianhe core module, before the crew meet three colleagues from the previous manned Shenzhou-15 flight, who have been at the space station for six months and will return to Earth in the coming days.

The mission will "carry out large-scale, in-orbit experiments... in the study of novel quantum phenomena, high-precision space time-frequency systems, the verification of general relativity, and the origin of life," CMSA spokesperson Lin Xiqiang told reporters on Monday.

The space station was resupplied with drinking water, clothing, food and propellant this month in preparation for Shenzhou-16's arrival.

Beijing is expected to launch one more crewed mission to the orbiting outpost this year.

Also by the end of 2023, China is due to a launch space telescope the size of a large bus.

Known as Xuntian – or "Surveying the Heavens" – the orbital telescope will boast a field of view 350 times wider than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched 33 years ago. (Agencies)

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