China is all set for its longest manned space mission. A spacecraft will carry 2 astronauts with an experimental lab for a month-long stay. The mission is a part of country’s plans to develop its own permanent space station by 2022.
Astronauts will be taken into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near the Gobi Desert in northern China.
It will dock with orbiting space lab Tiangong-2 after two days of launch and the astronauts will stay in the lab for 30 days.
China conducted its first manned space mission in 2003 which lasted for 15 days. Now it is also planning to launch Mars mission in 2020 to match India and others.
China has informed that its space program is for peaceful purposes, but it has also tested anti-satellite missiles in addition to its civilian aims.###
