China prepares to finish work on its orbiting space station

From left: Cai Xuzhe, Chen Dong and Liu Yang wave as they attend a press conference for the upcoming Shenzhou-14 mission (Cai Yang/Xinhua/AP)

China is preparing to launch a new three-person mission to complete work on its permanent orbiting space station, the China Manned Space Agency said.

The Shenzhou 14 crew will spend six months on the Tiangong station, during which they will oversee the addition of two laboratory modules to join the main Tianhe living space that was launched in April 2021.