China announces Shenzhou-21 crew for space station mission
The China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Thursday that astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang will undertake the Shenzhou-21 crewed mission, with Zhang Lu serving as the commander.
The Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 11:44 p.m. Friday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, said Zhang Jingbo, spokesperson of the agency, News.Az reports citing Xinhua.
The three astronauts are space pilot, flight engineer and payload specialist, respectively, representing the three types of Chinese astronauts in service, he added.
Zhang Lu was a crew member of the Shenzhou-15 mission. Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, both from the third batch of Chinese astronauts, will carry out the spaceflight mission for the first time.
Before being selected as an astronaut, Wu Fei was an engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and Zhang Hongzhang was a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Similar news
