It was announced this Monday by the China Manned Cosmonautics Program Office (CMSA), Ukrinform reported, citing Xinhua.

The launch will take place on Tuesday at 11:08 Beijing time. Astronauts Fei Junlong (crew commander), Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu will travel to space on board to perform the Shenzhou-15 space mission. They will remain in orbit for about six months.

CMSA deputy chief Ji Ziming said the launch will be carried out using the Changzheng-2F (Long March-2F) launch vehicle. It will be refueled in the near future.

According to him, after entering orbit, the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft will make a rapid automatic approach and docking at the front docking node of the main module of the Tianhe module of the Chinese space station.

Ji Qiming said this will expand the space station into its largest configuration with three modules and three spacecraft with a total mass of about 100 tons.

During their time in orbit, the crew of Shenzhou-15 will witness the arrival of the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-6 and the manned spacecraft Shenzhou-16.

According to the plan, the Shenzhou-15 astronauts will return to Earth in May next year.

The Shenzhou-14 crew plan to complete the orbital transit one week before landing at the Dongfeng Landing Site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.