China will send a civilian into space for the first time in its history

China will send a civilian astronaut to the spacecraft for the first time on Tuesday. space for a mission to the Tiangong space station, with the goal of sending a manned flight to the Moon by 2030. So far, all Chinese astronauts sent into space have been members of the People’s Liberation Army.

gui haichaoprofessor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Beihang University, will carry out scientific tests during the mission, Lin Xiqiang, spokesman for the country’s Manned Space Agency, told reporters on Monday, May 29.

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The astronaut will carry out “large-scale orbital experiments” for study “new quantum phenomena, high-precision time-frequency space systems, verification of general relativity and the origin of life”, according to the spokesperson.

“I always dreamed of thisGui said at a press conference on Monday. Gui comes from aordinary family” from the northern province of Yunnan, according to his university.

“He began to be interested in aerospace” when listening to the news on the radio about the first Chinese to travel into space, Yang Liwei, in 2003published the center on social networks.

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Your participation in the flight is “especially significant”, the independent expert Chen Lan estimated for AFP, given that in previous missions only astronauts trained as pilots had traveled, who carried out rather technical tasks, and not scientific ones. “These mean that From this mission, China opens the door of space to ordinary citizens“, he pointed.

They are scheduled to take off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 09:31 a.m. local time (0131 GMT) on Tuesday, the agency said.

The mission commander will be Jin Haipeng, on his fourth space mission, according to state media, and the third crew member will be engineer Zhu Yangzhu. Gui will be “primarily responsible for the in-orbit operation of experimental space science payloads”Lin pointed out.

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space dream

Under President Xi Jinping, China has stepped up the pursuit of its “space dream.” The world’s second largest economy has invested millions in its military-controlled space program, hoping to send humans to the Moon.

Beijing is looking to catch up with the United States and Russia after years of lagging behind. In addition to a space station, China plans to build a base on the moon, and the country’s National Space Administration says it aims to launch a manned lunar mission before 2030..

“The main objective is make a first moon landing [de una tripulación] on the Moon by 2030 and proceed to a lunar scientific exploration” and also technology analysis, spokesman Lin Xiqiang said.

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The final module of Tiangong Station, whose name means “Heavenly Palace”, managed to fit into the main structure last year. The station contains numerous cutting-edge scientific equipment, including “the first cold atomic space clock system”according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The Tiangong station should remain in low space orbit at a distance of 400 to 450 km above the planet for at least 10 years, to allow China to maintain a long-term human presence in space.

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It will be permanently manned by rotating teams of three astronauts, who will conduct scientific experiments and help test new technologies. The Asian giant does not plan to use Tiangong for global cooperation purposeslike the International Space Station, but Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration.

China “is impatient and wants foreign astronauts to participate in manned missions on the country’s space station”, Lin elaborated on Monday. China has been on the sidelines of the International Space Station since 2011, when Washington banned NASA from collaborating with Beijing.

Source: Elcomercio

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