According to the announcement made by China’s Manned Space Agency on Tuesday, the nation will send its first civilian astronaut into space as part of a crewed mission to the Tiangong space station.
According to statements made by China Manned Space Agency Spokesperson Lin Xiqiang to reporters on Monday, “Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.”
Up to this point, every single Chinese astronaut who has ever been sent into space has been a member of the People’s Liberation Army.
Lin has said that “the primary responsibility for the on-orbit operation of space science experimental payloads” will fall on Gui’s shoulders.
Zhu Yangzhu is the third crew member, while Jing Haipeng is the mission commander for the mission.
According to the Manned Space Agency, the launch is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:31 a.m. local time (0131 GMT) and will take place at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.
The preparations for China’s “space dream” have been cranked up to high gear under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
The nation with the world’s second-largest economy has put billions of dollars into its space project, which is administered by the military, in the hope that one day it would be able to land people on the moon.
After years of trailing behind the United States and Russia in reaching their respective milestones, Beijing is making a concerted effort to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
Additionally, China has plans to construct a base on the Moon, and the country’s National Space Administration has said that it intends to send a crewed expedition to the Moon by the year 2029.
