The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of
dollars into its military-run space programme, trying to catch up with the
United States and Russia after years of belatedly matching their milestones.
Until now, all Chinese astronauts sent into space have been
part of the People's Liberation Army.
"Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing
University of Aeronautics and Astronautics," China Manned Space Agency
Spokesperson Lin Xiqiang told reporters Monday.
Gui will be "mainly responsible for the on-orbit
operation of space science experimental payloads", Lin said.
The commander is Jing Haipeng -- on his fourth mission into
space, according to state media -- and the third crew member is engineer Zhu
Yangzhu.
China's Final 'Mengtian' Module Docks With Tiangong Space
Station
They are set to take off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch
Centre in northwest China on Tuesday at 9:31 am (0131 GMT), the Manned Space
Agency said.
Gui's university, known as Beihang University in English,
said he hailed from an "ordinary family" in western Yunnan province.
He "first felt the attraction of aerospace"
listening to the news of China's first man in space, Yang Liwei, on campus
radio in 2003, the university said in a post on social media.
'Space dream'
Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China's "space
dream" have been put into overdrive.
China is planning to build a base on the Moon and the
country's National Space Administration said it aims to launch a crewed lunar
mission by 2029.
The final module of the T-shaped Tiangong -- whose name
means "heavenly palace" -- successfully docked with the core
structure last year.
The station carries a number of pieces of cutting-edge
science equipment, state news agency Xinhua reported, including "the
world's first space-based cold atomic clock system".
Once finished, Tiangong is expected to remain in low Earth
orbit at between 400 and 450 kilometres (250 and 280 miles) above the planet
for at least 10 years -- realising an ambition to maintain a long-term human
presence in space.
It will be constantly crewed by rotating teams of three
astronauts, who will conduct scientific experiments and help test new
technologies.
While China does not plan to use Tiangong for global
cooperation on the scale of the International Space Station, Beijing said it is
open to foreign collaboration.
It is not yet clear how extensive that cooperation will be.
China has been effectively excluded from the International
Space Station since 2011, when the United States banned NASA from engaging with
the country.
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