NANJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's spacecraft tracking ship Yuanwang-5 is sailing to the Pacific Ocean from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province Thursday for a maritime space monitoring mission.
It is the first voyage of the ship this year.
Before the end of the Spring Festival, the mission members were gathered and quarantined on the ship to prevent the novel coronavirus infection. They completed the preparation of medical supplies and made emergency plans.
"They have examined facilities and conducted rehearsals to ensure the success of the mission," said Liu Jianfei, captain of the ship.
Yuanwang-5, China's third-generation space tracking ship, mainly undertakes maritime tracking and monitoring tasks of high-, medium- and low-orbit satellites, spacecraft and a planned space station.
The ship has completed 63 missions at sea, including maritime tracking of the Shenzhou spacecraft, the Chang'e lunar probe and BeiDou satellites, maintaining a 100 percent success rate.
