China to send a civilian into space for the first time on Tuesday

China to send a civilian into space for the first time on Tuesday

So far, all Chinese astronauts sent into space have been members of the People’s Liberation Army. China’s Rocket Launch Base EyePress News / AFP – 9-26-2010 China will send a civilian astronaut into space for the first time on Tuesday (30), as part of a mission to the Tiangong station, the Space Agency announced. Manned flights in the country. “Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing Aeronautics and Astronautics University,” space agency spokesman Lin Xiqiang told reporters on Monday. So far, all Chinese astronauts sent into space have been members of the People’s Liberation Army. Gui, 34, will be “mainly responsible for the in-orbit operation of experimental space science payloads,” Lin said. According to the university, Gui is from an “ordinary family” in Yunnan province (north of the country). He “first felt interested in the aerospace sector when he heard the news on the radio about the first Chinese person to travel to space”, Yang Liwei, in 2003, highlighted the university on social networks. The mission commander will be Jin Haipeng – on his fourth space mission, according to state media – and the third crew member will be engineer Zhu Yangzhu. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:31 am local time (10:31 pm GMT on Monday) from the Jiuguan Satellite Launch Center, the Space Agency said. – Space dream -During the rule of President Xi Jinping, China has stepped up operations to achieve the “space dream”. The world’s second-largest economy has invested a large budget in the space program, run by the military, with the hope of sending astronauts to the moon. Beijing is trying to catch up with the United States and Russia after years of delay. In addition to a space station, China plans to build a base on the moon. The Space Agency intends to carry out a manned lunar mission by 2029. The final module of the Tiangong station (which means “heavenly palace”) was attached last year to the main structure. The station contains various cutting-edge scientific equipment, including “the first cold atomic space clock system”, according to the state news agency Xinhua. Upon completion, Tiangong is expected to remain in low Earth orbit, at a distance between 400 and 450 km above the planet for at least 10 years, fulfilling the country’s ambition to maintain a human presence in space for an extended period of time. The station will have a permanent crew, on a rotating basis with teams of three astronauts, who will conduct science experiments and help test new technologies. China does not plan to use Tiangong in a global cooperation system such as the International Space Station (ISS), but Beijing has declared that it is open to foreign collaboration. The country has been on the sidelines of the ISS since 2011, when Washington banned NASA from collaborating with Beijing.



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