China sent its first civilian astronaut into space

China sent three new astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, May 30, including a civilian for the first time. This is a valuable experience for the Asian giant, which has reaffirmed its desire to send a Chinese to the Moon by 2030, the main objective of a space program which has been progressing steadily for several decades.

The trio of the Shenzhou-16 mission took off aboard a Long March 2F rocket at 9:31 a.m. local time (2:31 a.m. Paris time) from the Jiuquan launch center in the Gobi desert, according to AFP journalists. on the spot. The launch was a “total success” and the “astronauts are in good shape”said Zou Lipeng, director of the launch center.

Mission commander, veteran Jing Haipeng, on his fourth spaceflight, is accompanied by engineer Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, professor and first Chinese civilian in space. A specialist in science and space engineering, the latter will be more particularly responsible for experiments in the station. He does not come from the armed forces as was always the case until now. Their stay in Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”in Chinese) is to last six months.