Chinese astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie will carry out the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceflight mission, with Chen Dong as the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Wednesday.

The Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 5:17 p.m. Thursday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, said Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson for the agency, at a press conference.

Before being selected,Wang Jie was an engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.