Chinese staff members pictured Oct. 2016 walking in front of the Long March 2F carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft ahead of its launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu province. On Friday, the Shenzhou 21 mission will launch. Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA
China will send three of its astronauts to the Tiangong space station on Friday in the 16th crewed spaceflight for China’s Shenzhou program.
The Shenzhou 21 mission will launch from the Gobi Desert on a Long March 2F rocket around 11:44 a.m. EDT via Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
A live-streamed broadcast will take place as Chinese space officials send astronauts Zhang Lu, Zhang Hongzhang and Wu Fei.
The three-module Tiangong space station, completed in October 2022 will see its 10th crewed flight.
Lu, 48, will command China’s Shenzhou 15 mission for its roughly six-month jaunt in space. Wu, 32, and Zhang, 39, will be making their first spaceflights Friday.
Meanwhile, Wu is set to be China’s youngest astronaut.
“As the youngest member of China’s Astronaut Corps, I feel extremely fortunate to embark on my spaceflight mission,” Wu said Thursday.
The mission will focus in on a number of scientific trials, including mice experiments and spacewalks.
“I owe my good fortune to the era we live in, which is seeing leapfrog development in China’s aerospace industry,” according to Wu.
The current Shenzhou 20 mission is due back Nov. 3.
