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A ship the size of a football field, crewed by more than 50 engineers and technicians, cruises the oceans around Africa to keep the continent online.

The next crewed mission will see four astronauts fly around the Moon in 2026.

Meanwhile, SpaceX was awarded a smaller contract to develop a crewed capsule, based on its existing Cargo Dragon capsule, and that craft has made more than a dozen trips to the station.

The Shenzhou 19 spacecraft is crewed by three taikonauts - China’s word for astronauts - who are the latest in a series of explorers to head to the country’s homegrown space station, Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace".

If the landings succeed, the first crewed missions would take place two years later.