China to send civilian astronaut to space for first time on Tuesday

China will send a civilian astronaut into space for the first time in its history on Tuesday (May 30) for a manned mission to the Tiangong space station, a new step in pursuing its ambitions for exploration beyond the Earth. earth’s atmosphere.

This astronaut, Gui Haichao, a “payload specialist”East “Professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics”, said Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson for the China Human Spaceflight Agency, on Monday. Until now, all Chinese astronauts who have taken off into space have been part of the People’s Liberation Army. Gui Haichao will be “primarily responsible for in-orbit management of payloads” devoted to space science experiments, the spokesperson said.

Billions of euros invested

The civilian astronaut will fly in orbit alongside Shenzhou-16 mission commander Jing Haipeng and astronaut Zhu Yangzhu. The crew is to take off from the Jiuquan launch base, located in northwest China, at 3:31 a.m. (French time) on Tuesday, the space agency said.

The man is from a “ordinary family” from Yunnan province (west), described Beihang University, another name of the institution for which the professor works. He “felt an attraction for aerospace” in 2003, following the flight of the first Chinese in space on his campus radio, his university reported on social networks.

Projects related to “space dream” increase under the presidency of Xi Jinping. The Asian giant has been investing billions of euros in its military-led space program for several decades, which has enabled it to make up most of its delay against the Americans and the Russians.