A journalist takes images on the the launch website for China Manned Space Agencys Shenzhou-16 and Long March-2F rocket on the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on May 29, 2023 in Jiuquan, China.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
China will send its first civilian astronaut into space as a part of a crewed mission to the Tiangong space station on Tuesday, its Manned Space Agency introduced, as Beijing pushes forward with its extra-terrestrial ambitions.
The world’s second-largest financial system has invested billions of {dollars} into its military-run space programme, making an attempt to meet up with the United States and Russia after years of belatedly matching their milestones.
Until now, all Chinese astronauts despatched into space have been a part of the People’s Liberation Army.
“Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,” China Manned Space Agency Spokesperson Lin Xiqiang instructed reporters Monday.
Gui might be “mainly responsible for the on-orbit operation of space science experimental payloads”, Lin stated.
The commander is Jing Haipeng — on his fourth mission into space, in accordance to state media — and the third crew member is engineer Zhu Yangzhu.
They are set to take off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China on Tuesday at 9:31 am (0131 GMT), the Manned Space Agency stated.
Gui’s college, generally known as Beihang University in English, stated he hailed from an “ordinary family” in western Yunnan province.
He “first felt the attraction of aerospace” listening to the information of China’s first man in space, Yang Liwei, on campus radio in 2003, the college stated in a publish on social media.
Space Dream
Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream” have been put into overdrive.
China is planning to construct a base on the Moon and the nation’s National Space Administration stated it goals to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2029.
The ultimate module of the T-shaped Tiangong — whose identify means “heavenly palace” — efficiently docked with the core construction final yr.
The station carries a variety of items of cutting-edge science gear, state information company Xinhua reported, together with “the world’s first space-based cold atomic clock system”.
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Once completed, Tiangong is anticipated to stay in low Earth orbit at between 400 and 450 kilometres (250 and 280 miles) above the planet for at the least 10 years — realising an ambition to keep a long-term human presence in space.
It might be continuously crewed by rotating groups of three astronauts, who will conduct scientific experiments and assist check new applied sciences.
While China doesn’t plan to use Tiangong for world cooperation on the size of the International Space Station, Beijing stated it’s open to overseas collaboration.
It just isn’t but clear how in depth that cooperation might be.
China has been successfully excluded from the International Space Station since 2011, when the United States banned NASA from partaking with the nation.
