Chinese space-tracking ship sets sail for new missions

Aerial photo shows China's spacecraft tracking ship Yuanwang-3 sailing at the mouth of China's Yangtze River, on July 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Yuze)

NANJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's tracking ship Yuanwang-3 departed from a port on Sunday for new spacecraft monitoring missions.

The crew members will spend the New Year holiday and Spring Festival during this voyage. Before setting sail, they had examined facilities, received training, and replenished supplies to ensure the success of the missions.

This year, the ship has spent more than 120 days at sea, sailing over 33,000 nautical miles, and completed four monitoring tasks, including the one for the Shenzhou-14 manned spaceflight.

Yuanwang-3 represents China's second-generation space tracking ship. It undertakes maritime tracking and monitoring of high-, medium- and low-orbit satellites, spaceships, and space station modules.

Since it was launched more than 20 years ago, the ship has made more than 60 voyages and completed 100 missions, including tracking of the Shenzhou spaceships, the Chang'e lunar probes, and BeiDou satellites, maintaining a 100 percent success rate.