China plans to send its first civilian astronaut into space on Tuesday as part of a mission to the Tiangong space station, the country’s Manned Spaceflight Agency announced. The civilian astronaut, Gui Haichao, is a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Peking University. So far, all Chinese astronauts sent into space have been members of the People’s Liberation Army. Gui, 34, will be responsible for the on-orbit operation of experimental space science payloads.
Gui, who comes from a common family in Yunnan province, became interested in space upon hearing news about the first Chinese man to travel into space, Yang Liwei, in 2003. The mission will be commanded by Jin Haipeng, who is on his fourth space mission, and the third crew member will be engineer Zhu Yangzhu. The launch is scheduled for the Jiuguan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has stepped up its space program in pursuit of its “space dream.” Investment in the military-controlled space program has been significant, with the goal of sending humans to the moon and catching up with the United States and Russia in the space race.
In addition to the Tiangong space station, China has plans to build a lunar base and launch a manned lunar mission by 2029. The final module of the Tiangong station was successfully docked last year and contains state-of-the-art scientific equipment, such as the first cold atomic space clock system. The station will remain in low orbit for at least 10 years, with a rotating crew of three astronauts conducting scientific experiments and testing new technologies.
Although China has no plans to use the Tiangong station for international cooperation like the International Space Station, it has expressed its willingness to collaborate with other countries. China has stayed away from the International Space Station since 2011, when the United States banned collaboration with China by NASA.