China plans year-long space mission

China will send an astronaut to its space station on Sunday for a year, a record length for the country, ​enabling the study of long-duration human physiology in space as Beijing works towards its ambition of a crewed moon landing by 2030. The Shenzhou-23 vessel is scheduled ‌to launch at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) using the Long March-2F Y23 carrier rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, with three Chinese astronauts on board. (Reuters)