China sent this Tuesday to the Tiangong space station a mission with three ‘taikonauts’ – the country’s astronauts -, which includes a civilian for the first time, a new stage in the conquest of space started more than 60 years ago by President Mao Zed -Tung.
The trio of astronauts left aboard a rocket shortly after 09:30 local time (01:30 in Lisbon) from the Jiuquan launch center, in the Gobi desert, in the northwest of the country, according to the Chinese space agency responsible for space flights. crewed (CMSA).
The trip is part of the strategy to send a Chinese astronaut to the Moon by 2030, one of the main objectives of a space program in which the country has already invested billions of euros.
The mission commander, veteran Jing Haipeng (56), makes his fourth space flight and is accompanied by engineer Zhu Yangzhu, and by Gui Haichao, professor and first Chinese civilian in space, both aged 36.
