China’s only female spaceflight engineer will join a three-astronaut crew set to embark on a “dream” mission to the Tiangong space station this week, Beijing announced on Tuesday.
The Tiangong crew will conduct experiments aligned with China’s ambitious space program goals, which include sending astronauts to the Moon by 2030 and eventually building a lunar base.
The Shenzhou-19 mission is scheduled to launch at 4:27 am Wednesday (2027 GMT Tuesday) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
Among the crew is 34-year-old Wang Haoze, China’s only female spaceflight engineer, making her the third Chinese woman to join a crewed space mission. “Like everyone else, I dream of going to the space station to see it myself,” Wang shared at a media event on Tuesday, joined by her fellow crew members behind protective glass panels.
“I want to complete each task carefully and protect our home in space,” she added. “I also dream of traveling in deep space and waving at the stars.”
The team is led by Cai Xuzhe, a 48-year-old former air force pilot who previously served on the Shenzhou-14 mission aboard Tiangong in 2022. Cai expressed pride and responsibility in taking on this new mission, noting that the crew is “fully prepared mentally, technically, physically, and psychologically.”
The third member of the team is 34-year-old Song Lingdong. According to CMSA Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang, the crew will return to Earth in “late April or early May next year.”
The current Tiangong crew will complete handover procedures with the Shenzhou-19 astronauts and return to Earth on November 4, Lin added.
China’s “space dream,” accelerated under President Xi Jinping, has already achieved several milestones, including placing humans in orbit and landing robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon. Tiangong, crewed by rotating teams of three astronauts every six months, represents the pinnacle of the space program so far.
China aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, with plans to establish a base on the lunar surface. During their mission, the Shenzhou-19 crew will conduct various experiments, including tests on “bricks” composed of materials simulating lunar soil, which will be delivered to Tiangong by the Tianzhou-8 cargo ship in November. These bricks will undergo assessments under extreme radiation, gravity, and temperature conditions.
To reduce the high costs of transporting building materials to space, Chinese scientists hope to utilize lunar soil in constructing the future lunar base.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.