Chinese Astronauts To Launch For Space Station

Photo : AFP

China will send a new team of astronauts to its space station on Thursday. This is an important step as China wants to become a big player in space, just like the United States. China has been spending a lot of money on its space program to make the "Chinese space dream" come true. President Xi Jinping talks a lot about this dream.

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China, which is the second-largest economy in the world, has big plans for space. It wants to send astronauts to the Moon by the end of this decade and even build a base on the Moon someday.

On Thursday, China will make a new milestone. The Shenzhou-20 mission will send three astronauts to the Tiangong space station. This station was built by China itself.

The astronauts will leave at 5:17 pm (0917 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in a desert area in the northwestern part of China. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) shared this information.

Leading the mission is Chen Dong, who is 46 years old. He used to be a fighter pilot and has been to space many times. In 2022, he became the first Chinese astronaut to stay in space for more than 200 days. The other two astronauts are Chen Zhongrui, who is 40 years old and used to be an air force pilot, and Wang Jie, who is 35 years old and worked as a space technology engineer. This will be their first time in space.

Chen Zhongrui said, "Today, I am close to living my dream of flying in space."

The astronauts will stay at the Tiangong station for six months. They will do experiments to learn more about science and life. They will also set up equipment to protect the station from space debris. This time, they will also take some special flatworms, called planarians, which can grow back parts of their bodies. The astronauts will also go on spacewalks and do some maintenance work on the station.

Currently, three astronauts are staying at Tiangong. They will return to Earth on April 29 after handing over their work to the new astronauts.

The space rocket was ready on Wednesday. It stood in a blue launch tower, with red flags around it. Workers were wearing blue jumpsuits and checking everything before the launch.

China's space program is the third one in the world to send humans to space. It has also landed robots on Mars and the Moon. China wants to catch up with the United States and Russia, which are the biggest space powers.

The Tiangong space station is a big achievement for China. It is staffed by three astronauts, who rotate every six months. The station is known as "Tiangong," which means "heavenly palace" in Chinese.

China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011. This happened because the United States stopped NASA from working with China. Since then, China has been inviting other countries to join its space program. In February, China made an agreement with Pakistan. Two astronauts from Pakistan will come to China for training. This is a step toward growing China’s space program even more.