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In a major step toward expanding its space programs, China “successfully” launched the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft carrying three astronauts to the Tiangong space station for six months, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The trio, including two male and one female astronauts, will replace astronauts who have been living at the Tiangong space station for the past six months. He is likely to stay there till April-May next year.
State-run China Xinhua News shared a breathtaking view of the spacecraft’s launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 4:27 a.m.
“The condition of the crew is good and the launch was successful,” state broadcaster China Central Television announced.
Who are the three astronauts sent to space by China?
The astronaut team sent to the space station included two men and one woman. Cai Xuezhe, a former Air Force pilot, is the new mission commander. Zhuge traveled to space in 2022 in the Shenzhou-14 mission. The other two crew members will travel to space for the first time.
The other two team members, Song Lingdong and Wang Haozhe, are first-time astronauts who were born in the 1990s. Song was an Air Force pilot and Wang was an engineer at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Wang will be the crew’s payload specialist and the third Chinese woman to fly aboard a crewed mission.
China’s space station
China built its own space station after the country was kicked out of the International Space Station after the US expressed concern over the People’s Liberation Army’s control over the space program. The boycott marked the rivalry between China and the US in space. China is actively working on its Moon program and plans to send an astronaut to the Moon before 2030. If this happens, China will become the second country after the United States to achieve this feat. It also plans to build a research station on the Moon and has already transferred rock and soil samples from less-explored remote parts of the Moon globally.
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