China's space-tracking ship departs on new mission in Pacific

NANJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Space-tracking ship Yuanwang-5 departed from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province on Tuesday for a maritime monitoring mission in the Pacific Ocean.

Before this voyage, the crew members have examined onboard facilities and replenished their supplies for the upcoming mission, after the ship returned from a mission on March 29.

Yuanwang-5, China's third-generation space-tracking ship, has completed 73 missions at sea, including maritime tracking of the Shenzhou spacecraft, the Chang'e lunar probe and BeiDou satellites.