Out of this world: (From right) Astronauts Cai, Song and Wang waving to the crowd during a departure ceremony ahead of the launch of the Shenzhou-19 space mission in the Gobi desert, northwest China. — AFP
Three Chinese astronauts including the country’s only woman spaceflight engineer entered the Tiangong space station on Wednesday following an early morning launch into orbit.
The Shenzhou-19 mission took off with its trio of space explorers at 4.27am local time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Among the crew is Wang Haoze, 34, China’s only woman spaceflight engineer, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
She is the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission.
The crew arrived around 12.51pm local time and met with the astronauts from the previous Shenzhou-18 mission, “starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover”, state news agency Xinhua said.
The new Tiangong team will carry out experiments with an eye to the space programme’s goal of placing astronauts on the Moon by 2030 and eventually constructing a lunar base.
“Like everyone else, I dream of going to the space station to have a look,” Wang told a media gathering on Tuesday alongside her fellow crew members.
The space agency deemed the launch a “complete success”, Xinhua said, adding that about 10 minutes after taking off, the spaceship separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit.
Xinhua later said the spaceship had “made a fast, automated rendezvous and docking with the front port of the space station’s core module Tianhe at 11am (local time)”, and that the trio would then enter the module.
Headed by Cai Xuzhe, the team will return to Earth in late April or early May next year, CMSA deputy director Lin Xiqiang said at a separate press event ahead of 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.
“Having been selected for the new crew, taking on a new role, facing new tasks and new challenges, I feel the honour of my mission with a great responsibility,” said Cai.
Completing the astronaut lineup is 34-year-old Song Lingdong.
The new and old crew will live and work together for about five days to complete planned tasks and handover work, the CMSA said, according to Xinhua.
The Shenzhou-18 crew is scheduled to return to Earth on Monday, it added.
China has ramped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping.
The Shenzhou-19 crew’s time aboard Tiangong will see them carry out various experiments, including some involving “bricks” made from components imitating lunar soil, CCTV reported.
Crewed by teams of three astronauts that are rotated every six months, the Tiangong space station is the programme’s crown jewel. — AFP
