China sends three more astronauts to space mission – 10/25/2023 – Science

China will send, on Thursday (26), the youngest crew of astronauts in its history to the Tiangong space station, in an ambitious program that aims to culminate in sending a mission to the Moon at the end of the decade.

The mission is of great importance for China, which hopes to reinforce its knowledge of manned flights, as part of a space program that has been progressing regularly for decades.

The Shenzhou-17 module with the three astronauts on board is scheduled to take off at 11:14 am (00:14 Brasília time) on Thursday from the center of Jiuquan, in the Gobi Desert, in the northwest of the country.

“It is the youngest astronaut crew since the launch of China’s Tiangong space station construction mission,” the State Council information office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The trio is made up of commander Tang Hongbo, 48, and his colleagues Tang Shengjie, 33, and Jiang Xinlin, 35.

Their average age is 38 years old, notably lower than the 42 years old that the crew of the previous mission, Shenzhou-16, still in orbit, will be at the time of landing.

The station is operated by teams of three astronauts who rotate every six months.

“For the last two years I dreamed of returning to space,” Tang said at a press conference this Wednesday (25). “The space station is our second home, it takes us off Earth and into the Universe,” she added.

The Tiangong station is the crown jewel of China’s aerospace program, which has also landed exploration robots on Mars and the Moon and was the third country to put humans into orbit.

“According to the plan, the Shenzhou-17 module will carry out autonomous rendezvous and docking procedures after entering orbit,” said Lin Xiquiang, spokesperson for the Chinese space program, at the press conference.

Space dream

The final module of this station was attached to the main structure last year. The ship has state-of-the-art scientific equipment, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Tiangong is expected to remain in low Earth orbit, around 400-450 kilometers above the planet, for at least ten years.

China’s “space dream” has received a boost under President Xi Jinping.

The world’s second largest economy has invested billions of dollars in this military-run program in an effort to close the gap with the United States and Russia.

In June, the Shenzhou-16 mission blasted off toward the space station with the first Chinese civilian in space.

Its crew is expected to return to Earth on October 31 after completing the transfer with the new mission, authorities said on Wednesday.

Beijing also plans to send a manned mission to the Moon in 2030 and wants to build a base on the surface of the Earth’s satellite.

Spokesman Lin reaffirmed this objective this Wednesday, stating that “the goal of putting Chinese people on the Moon by 2030 will be achieved according to schedule.”

The country’s lunar plans suffered a blow in 2017 when the powerful Long March-5 Y2 rocket was not launched for a mission aimed at putting communications satellites into orbit.

This forced the postponement of the launch of the Chang’e-5 lunar exploration mission, which was supposed to collect lunar samples in the second half of 2017.

Chang’e reached the Moon in 2020, planted the Chinese flag on the surface and returned to Earth with the first lunar samples in four decades.