China Launches Shenzhou-16 Mission to Tiangong Space Station with Three Astronauts including One Civilian

Beijing –

China has sent three astronauts, including one civilian, on the Shenzhou-16 mission launched to Tiangong Space Station on Tuesday (30/5) morning local time. This mission is part of a crew rotation for the Tiangong which is fully operational.

As reported ReutersTuesday (30/5/2023), third astronaut China it departed for Tiangong on the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft, which was mounted on a Long March-2F rocket and lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Tuesday (30/5) morning, at around 9:31 a.m. local time.

This will be the fifth manned mission Beijing has launched to Tiangong.

The three astronauts in Shenzhou-16 will replace the three crew members of Shenzhou-15 who arrived at Tiangong since November last year.

The Tiangong space station, which consists of three modules, was completed late last year, through 11 manned and unmanned missions launched by China since April 2021, which began with the launch of the first and largest module that became the main residence of the space station.

Beijing has announced plans to expand its permanently inhabited space outpost, with the next module slated to launch and attach to the currently T-shaped space station, to subsequently create a larger cross-shaped structure.

The Shenzhou-16 mission was led by Jing Haipeng, 56, who was the senior spacecraft pilot of China’s first batch of astronaut trainees in the late 1990s. He has traveled to space three times before, including two as mission commander.

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(nvc/ita)