China's Shenzhou-19 to Launch Oct. 30 with Youngest Crew; Female Astronaut Wang Haoze on Board

Oct 29, 2024, 01:11 AM

China is set to launch the Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft to its Tiangong space station on October 30, marking the country's 14th crewed space mission and the 33rd flight mission of its manned space program. The spacecraft is scheduled to lift off at 4:27 a.m. Beijing Time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The mission will carry three astronauts: commander Cai Xuzhe, a veteran who previously flew on the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022, and first-time astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze. Both Song and Wang are members of China's third batch of astronauts and were born in the 1990s, making the Shenzhou-19 crew the youngest yet. Wang Haoze, China's only female spaceflight engineer and a nuclear rocket scientist, will become the third Chinese woman to travel to space. The Shenzhou-19 crew is expected to stay in orbit for about six months, conducting 86 experiments aboard the Tiangong space station. They are scheduled to dock with the space station approximately 6.5 hours after launch. Their return to Earth is planned for late April or early May 2025. Meanwhile, the Shenzhou-18 crew, comprising Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, are preparing to return to Earth on November 4 at the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia after completing their six-month mission aboard the space station. In support of the space station's operations, China plans to launch the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft in mid-November.