China completes successful launch of three astronauts to its Tiangong space station

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Wednesday announced that a manned mission to its Tiangong space station has been completed successfully. The three astronauts of China’s Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission, including two men and one woman, will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the last six months. They are expected to stay until April or May next year.

CREDIT: AP

Shenzhou-19 crew??

According to CMSA, the Shenzhou-19 crew consists of mission commander Cai Xuzhe and astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, who is China’s only female space engineer and the third Chinese woman participating in a crewed spaceflight mission.

The new mission commander, Cai Xuzhe, went to space in the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022, while the other two, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, are first-time space travellers, born in the 1990s.??

Song was an air force pilot, and Wang an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Wang will be the crew’s payload specialist and the third Chinese woman aboard a crewed mission.??

Shenzhou-19 crew's mission??

During their six-month-long stay on the space station, the crew will carry out 86 space science research and technology experiments, covering various fields, including space life science, microgravity fundamental physics, space material science, space medicine, and new space technologies.

CREDIT: AP

China's?Tiangong space station

China is currently the only country in the world that has an active space station. The first nation to have its own space station was the USSR, which launched its station in 1986 and operated it until 2001.

CREDIT: CMSA

The only other space station is the International Space Station (ISS), which is operated by several countries, including the US. China built its space station after it was reportedly excluded from the ISS project over concerns that China’s space programme is manned by its military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

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