China to launch next crewed mission on Sunday to build space station

China will launch a spacecraft on Sunday carrying three astronauts to the core module of the unfinished Chinese space station, where they will work and live for six months as construction enters advanced stages.

A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft is set to blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern province of Gansu at 10.44am local time (same as Malaysia time) on Sunday, a China Manned Space Agency official told a news conference on Saturday.