It will take less than 10 minutes for a Long March 2F rocket to send two astronauts inside the Shenzhou 11 space capsule on course toward a docking with China’s Tiangong 2 space lab.
The 191-foot-tall (58-meter) rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Jiuquan space center in northwestern China’s Inner Mongolia territory at 2330 GMT (7:30 p.m. EDT), or around sunrise Monday at the launch site.
Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will be aboard the Shenzhou 11 spaceship, beginning a 33-day mission in orbit.
T-0:00:01: Ignition
The Long March 2F rocket’s first stage and four liquid-fueled boosters ignite and throttle up to 1.4 million pounds of total thrust.
T-0:00:00: Liftoff
The 191-foot-tall (58-meter) Long March 2F rocket lifts off from the Jiuquan satellite launching center.
T+0:00:12: Pitch and roll program
The Long March 2F rocket begins a pitch-over maneuver to steer on the proper heading toward orbit.
T+0:02:35: Escape tower jettison
The launch abort system, which would be used by the crew to escape the Long March rocket in the event of a mishap, is jettisoned after it is no longer needed.
T+0:02:35: Booster separation
Moments after the boosters drain their hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellant, the rockets are jettisoned from the Long March 2F first stage.
T+0:02:40: First stage separation
The Long March 2F first stage separates about four seconds after the strap-on boosters are jettisoned. The second stage ignites moments later.
T+0:03:30: Fairing separation
The aerodynamic shroud covering the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft is released once the Long March rocket flies out of the lower atmosphere.
T+0:08:45: Shenzhou 11 separation
The Shenzhou 11 spacecraft separates from the second stage of the Long March 2F rocket. The launch is targeting an orbit with an inclination of 42.8 degrees. Shenzhou 11’s power-generating solar panels will be extended a few minutes later.
The stacking of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket this week at Cape Canaveral signals the start of a busy six-week campaign to ready ULA’s trusty workhorse launcher for its debut in a new human-rated configuration in mid-December.
Space station astronauts closed hatches to the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Thursday, setting the stage for undocking early Friday and a fiery unpiloted plunge to splashdown off the coast of Florida. A successful return to Earth will help clear the way for launch of the first piloted test flight of the new ferry ship in the mid-summer timeframe.
Space station commander Jeff Williams and astronaut Kate Rubins plan to carry out their second spacewalk in two weeks Thursday, venturing back outside to retract a cooling radiator, install a high-definition TV camera, replace a burned-out light and inspect struts attached to a large solar array rotary mechanism.
