Beijing sent 3 astronauts to its fully operational space station today, Tuesday, as part of a crew rotation, marking the fifth crewed mission to the station since 2021. The manned spacecraft "Shenzhou-16" launched at 9:31 AM, carrying the three astronauts aboard a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northwest China.
The new crew is led by Jing Haipeng (56 years old), a spacecraft commander, who is part of the first group of trainees from the late 1990s. He has flown to space three times, twice as the mission commander.
Jing was joined on the spacecraft by his colleagues Zhu Yangzhu and Qui Haichao, both 36 years old, who are on their first mission to space.
Beijing is expected to launch another crewed mission to the orbital site this year. Additionally, it is planned to launch a new space telescope the size of a bus by the end of 2023.
