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China to send civilian astronaut into space for the first time

2023-05-29T06:11:27.931Z

Highlights: China will send a civilian astronaut into space for the first time on Tuesday for a manned mission to the Tiangong space station. Gui Haichao, a "payload specialist," is a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The civilian astronaut will fly into orbit alongside Shenzhou-16 mission commander Jing Haipeng and astronaut Zhu Yangzhu. The crew is scheduled to take off from the Jiuquan launch base in northwest China on Tuesday at 9:31 a.m. local time.


Until now, all Chinese astronauts who took off into space were part of the People's Liberation Army. The projects


His name is Gui Haichao, and his name will mark the history of his country. China will send a civilian astronaut into space for the first time on Tuesday for a manned mission to the Tiangong space station. A new step in the pursuit of its exploration ambitions beyond the Earth's atmosphere.

Gui Haichao, a "payload specialist," is "a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics," Lin Xiqiang, spokesman for China's Human Space Flight Agency, told a news conference on Monday.

Until now, all Chinese astronauts who took off into space were part of the People's Liberation Army. Gui will be "primarily responsible for the in-orbit management of payloads" devoted to space science experiments, the spokesman said.

The civilian astronaut will fly into orbit alongside Shenzhou-16 mission commander Jing Haipeng and astronaut Zhu Yangzhu. The crew is scheduled to take off from the Jiuquan launch base in northwest China on Tuesday at 9:31 a.m. local time (2:31 a.m. French time), the space agency said.

#video Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao, the three #Chinese #astronauts for the upcoming #Shenzhou16 mission, met the press on Monday. pic.twitter.com/oJclby6Rix

— China News 中国新闻网 (@Echinanews) May 29, 2023

Gui Haichao comes from an "ordinary family" in western China's Yunnan province, said Beihang University, where the professor works. He "felt an attraction to aerospace" in 2003, following on his campus radio the flight of the first Chinese in space.

"Space dream"

Projects related to the Chinese "space dream" are multiplying under President Xi Jinping. The Asian giant has been investing billions of euros for several decades in its military-led space program, which has allowed it to catch up with the Americans and Russians.

" READ ALSO China and space, decades of thwarted ambitions

China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, and its Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace") space station has been fully operational since late 2022. In 2019, a Chinese craft landed on the far side of the Moon. Then, in 2021, China brought a small robot to the surface of Mars. It plans to send a first crew to the Moon by 2029.

The last module of the Tiangong station successfully docked with the main structure of the facility in 2022. The orbital base is equipped with state-of-the-art scientific equipment, including the "first cold atomic clock system" for space, according to the Xinhua news agency.

VIDEO. Launch of the first module of the future Chinese space station

"Maintaining a presence" in space

Tiangong is expected to operate in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 400 to 450 kilometers for at least ten years to allow China to maintain a long-term human presence in space: crews will take turns to ensure a continuous presence in the orbiting laboratory, conduct scientific experiments and test new technologies.

Beijing does not plan to use Tiangong for cooperation with other countries on the same scale as the International Space Station, but says it is open to possible collaborations whose scope is unknown.

China was removed from the International Space Station in 2011, when Washington banned NASA from cooperating with Beijing.

Source: leparis

All tech articles on 2023-05-29

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