China is set to launch the Shenzhou-19 mission this week, sending three astronauts to the Tiangong space station. The crew includes Wang Haoze, currently China’s only female spaceflight engineer, who will become the third Chinese woman to participate in a crewed space mission. The mission is scheduled to launch at 4:27 a.m. on Wednesday (2027 GMT Tuesday) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced.
Leading the team is Cai Xuzhe, a 48-year-old veteran astronaut with previous experience on the Tiangong station during the Shenzhou-14 mission. Joining them is Song Lingdong, rounding out the trio. The crew will conduct their mission aboard the Tiangong until late April or early May 2024, when they are expected to return to Earth.
Currently, another crew aboard the Tiangong station is set to return on November 4 after completing the handover with the new arrivals. China’s Tiangong, manned by rotating teams every six months, is central to the country’s growing space ambitions, which have seen rovers on Mars and the Moon. Looking forward, China aims to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030 with plans to establish a lunar base.
China’s space programme, the third to put humans in orbit, continues to accelerate under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, as the country pursues its vision of a “space dream.”
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