The Chinese crewed mission Shenzhou-21 successfully launched on Friday at 11:44 PM local time (15:44 GMT), carrying three astronauts toward the Tiangong space station. Among the crew is Wu Fei, who at 32 years old is the youngest astronaut in the nation”s history.
The Long March 2F Y21 rocket propelled the spacecraft from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. This mission is set to last approximately six months, during which time the astronauts will conduct scientific research and perform extravehicular activities.
The crew consists of Zhang Lu, who commands the mission, along with Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang. This launch marks the thirty-seventh flight in China”s crewed space program and the sixth mission during the application and development phase of the Tiangong space station. Zhang Lu previously flew on Shenzhou-15 and returns to space after more than two years, while this will be the first spaceflight for both Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang.
According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the crew members represent the three active categories of the astronaut corps: Zhang Lu serves as the pilot, Wu Fei is the flight engineer, and Zhang Hongzhang acts as the payload specialist. Wu Fei”s achievement highlights the new generation of astronauts becoming integral to the Chinese space program.
Prior to their launch, the astronauts participated in a ceremony filled with patriotic music and applause from the center”s staff, coinciding with the sixteenth anniversary of the death of Qian Xuesen, who is celebrated as the “father of China”s space program.” State television reported that the crew honored the scientist by laying a flower before boarding the spacecraft.
During their approximately six-month stay aboard the Tiangong station, the astronauts will undertake 27 new scientific projects, which include several notable firsts. These will feature the use of a new model of extravehicular suit, care for four mice sent for biological experiments, and an experiment on food preparation in microgravity, which will include the first barbecue in orbit. Additionally, they plan to install debris protection devices and external cargo modules, as well as conduct educational outreach from space.
The Shenzhou-21 mission will dock with the Tiangong space station, where they will spend a few days with the crew of Shenzhou-20 before taking over operations of the facility. The Tiangong, meaning “Heavenly Palace” in Chinese, is designed to operate for at least ten years and could become the world”s only inhabited space station once the International Space Station retires, expected by the end of this decade.
This week, China reaffirmed that preparations for its crewed lunar exploration program are proceeding smoothly, with plans to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, according to CMSA spokesperson Zhang Jingbo. In recent years, Beijing has bolstered its space program with ambitious missions, including the Chang”e 4 lunar landing on the far side of the Moon and the Tianwen-1 Mars mission, and it aims to collaborate with other nations to establish a scientific base at the lunar south pole.
