Astronaut Wang Haoze addressed a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert on Tuesday, a day before the Shenzhou-19 mission.
China announced that its only female spaceflight engineer will be part of a new crew of three astronauts heading to the Tiangong space station this week. The Shenzhou-19 mission is set to launch with its trio of space explorers at 4:27 am on Wednesday (2027 GMT Tuesday) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Wang Haoze, currently China's sole female spaceflight engineer, will become the third Chinese woman to participate in a crewed mission. The team, led by Cai Xuzhe, is expected to return to Earth in "late April or early May next year," CMSA Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang stated at a press conference on Tuesday.
Cai, a 48-year-old former air force pilot, brings experience from his previous mission aboard Tiangong as part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022. Completing the astronaut lineup is Song Lingdong, as announced by Lin.
The current crew aboard the Tiangong space station is scheduled to return to Earth on November 4 after completing handover procedures with the incoming astronauts. China's space program, which is the third to put humans in orbit, has also successfully landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.
The Tiangong space station, crewed by teams of three astronauts that are exchanged every six months, is a cornerstone of the country's space ambitions. Under President Xi Jinping, China has accelerated its plans to achieve its "space dream." Beijing aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, with plans to construct a base on the lunar surface.
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