Jiuquan:
China’s only female aerospace engineer will be part of a new crew of three astronauts sent to the Tiangong space station this week, Beijing announced on Tuesday. The Shenzhou-19 mission is scheduled to launch with its trio of space explorers at 4:27 a.m. Wednesday (Tuesday 2027 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
The crew includes Wang Haoze, who is currently China’s only female aerospace engineer, according to the space agency. She becomes the third Chinese woman to participate in a manned mission.
Led by Cai Xuzhe, the team will carry out their mission before returning to Earth “in late April or early May next year,” CMSA deputy director Lin
Cai, a 48-year-old former air force pilot, brings experience from a previous stint aboard Tiangong as part of the 2022 Shenzhou-14 mission.
Song Lingdong completes the astronaut lineup, Lin announced.
The crew currently aboard the Tiangong space station will return to Earth on Nov. 4 after completing transfer procedures with the incoming astronauts, Lin said.
China’s space program, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic vehicles on Mars and the moon.
The Tiangong space station – staffed by teams of three astronauts rotated every six months – is the crown jewel of the country’s space program.
China has stepped up plans to realize its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping.
Beijing says it wants to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030, where it plans to build a base on the lunar surface.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)