Under the title "Three Chinese Astronauts to Space for the First Time in Five Years," Sky News Arabia reported that as part of an ambitious plan to complete the Chinese space station by the end of next year, China is scheduled to send three astronauts into space on Thursday, marking its first crewed mission in about five years. A spokesperson from the Chinese manned space agency announced on Wednesday that the manned spacecraft "Shenzhou-12" is expected to launch at 01:22 GMT on Thursday from Jiuquan in Gansu Province.
Ji Qiming, the assistant director of the Chinese manned space agency, told reporters that the three astronauts are: Nie Haisheng, 56 years old, Liu Boming, 54 years old, and Tang Hongbo, the youngest among them at 45 years old. The "Shenzhou-12" spacecraft, which means "Divine Vessel," represents the third mission in a series of 11 missions needed to complete the Chinese space station by 2022, according to Reuters.
China began constructing its own space station this year by launching "Tianhe," the first and largest of the three modules, at the end of April. The Shenzhou crew is expected to stay in the Tianhe module, which means "Harmony of the Heavens," for three months. It is cylindrical in shape, measuring 16.6 meters in length and 4.2 meters in diameter. The last Chinese crewed mission took place in 2016 when the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft carried astronauts to Tiangong-2, a prototype space station, where they remained for about a month.
Beijing aims to become a major space power by 2030. In May, it became the second country to land a spacecraft on Mars, following two years after the first Chinese spacecraft touched down on the far side of the moon. It is also noted that China plans to send astronauts to the moon.
