China to launch three new astronauts to its space station on Thursday

Beijing: China will launch three astronauts to its space station on Thursday – coinciding with its 10th Space Day -- to replace their colleagues manning the station for the past six months, it was announced on Wednesday.

The Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 5:17 pm Thursday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan



Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) spokesman Lin Xiqiang told the media at the centre, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The spaceship will carry three astronauts -- Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie with Chen Dong serving as the commander.