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PRINTThe impending launch of the manned Shenzhou IX spacecraft will be the first time that China's astronauts will stay in space for more than 10 days, said Cui Jijun, chief commander of the country's first space docking mission's launch site system, on Wednesday.
The previous record is five days, set by the Shenzhou VI spacecraft in 2005.
The mission will also complete the country's first manned space docking to master the necessary technology for assembling a space station, see China's first female astronaut in space and have astronauts entering a space lab module for the first time, he added.
It is also the first time for the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in a desert, to conduct a mission in the summer.
The past nine launches of China's manned space program were held in the spring, autumn and winter, but not summer. The three manned spacecraft all blasted off in autumn.
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