China Unveils New Space Station Crew

China today revealed the identities of the crew members of the Shenzhou-19 mission, which leaves on Wednesday for the Chinese space station with the third woman astronaut on board.

The three astronauts are Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze. Cai will be the commander, the China Space Agency for Manned Space Missions announced at a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Cai previously flew on the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022. For Song and Wang, both born in the 1990s, this will be their first time in space.

Before being selected as an astronaut, Song served as a pilot in the air force, while Wang was an engineer at the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology, according to the agency.

Wang will follow in the footsteps of Liu Yang, who became the first Chinese astronaut to go into space in 2012, and Wang Yaping, who became the second to do so in 2013.

Shenzhou-19 will lift off at 4:27 a.m. on Wednesday (8:27 p.m. Tuesday, Lisbon time), the agency said.

The spacecraft will transport the astronauts to the Tiangong space station, where they will conduct experiments, including research into building lunar habitats using bricks made from simulated lunar soil.

China, so far the only country to have landed on the far side of the moon, plans to build a scientific exploration base together with Russia and other countries on the moon's south pole.

The crew members revealed today will replace the three astronauts who arrived at the Chinese space station aboard the previous mission, Shenzhou-18, in April.

Tiangong will operate for about 10 years and will become the world’s only space station from 2024 if the International Space Station, a US-led initiative that China is barred from accessing due to its military ties to its space program, is retired this year as planned.

China has invested heavily in its space program and successfully landed the Chang’e 4 probe on the far side of the moon and reached Mars for the first time, becoming the third country – after the United States and the former Soviet Union – to do so.