NANJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese space-monitoring ship Yuanwang-3 has completed a 27-day maritime calibration mission and returned to port in east China's Jiangsu Province Thursday.
The ship will take part in six maritime space monitoring missions as a part of the space expeditions scheduled for the second half of the year, which will include the launch of the Chang'e-5 lunar probe and BeiDou-3 satellite.
Yuanwang-3 has embarked on more than 40 expeditions in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, sailing more than 580,000 nautical miles.
Apart from the missions assigned to Yuanwang-3, Yuanwang series vessels will carry out a total of 16 maritime space monitoring missions in the latter half of this year.
The Yuanwang-1 and Yuanwang-2 ships were China's first-generation space tracking vessels, which first entered service in late 1970s, making China the fourth country to master space tracking technology after the United States, Russia and France.
