Jiuquan:

China’s only woman spaceflight engineer will be among a fresh crew of three astronauts sent to its Tiangong space station this week, Beijing announced Tuesday. The Shenzhou-19 mission is scheduled to blast off with its trio of space explorers at 4:27 am Wednesday (2027 GMT Tuesday) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

Among the crew is Wang Haoze, who according to the space agency is currently China’s only female spaceflight engineer. She will become the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission.

Headed 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 Xiqiang said at a Tuesday press conference confirming the launch.

Cai, a 48-year-old former air force pilot, brings experience from a previous stint aboard Tiangong as part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.

Completing the astronaut lineup is Song Lingdong, Lin announced.

The crew currently aboard the Tiangong space station is scheduled to return to Earth on November 4 after completing handover procedures with the incoming astronauts, Lin said.

China’s space programme, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.

The Tiangong space station — crewed by teams of three astronauts that are exchanged every six months — is the crown jewel of the country’s space programme.

China has ramped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping.

Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, where it intends to construct a base on the lunar surface.

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