China’s oldest and most astronauts to launch to Space

Who will launch to space and why?

Three men will be aboard Shenzhou 15: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. China selected its oldest and most experienced team of astronauts to run the newly completed space station for the next six months. The space commander, 57 years old, first went into space in 2005.

He said that I am very proud and excited to be able to go to space again for my country.

The first piece of the Tiangong space station, the Tianhe core module, was launched last year. In July and October, two uncrewed pieces of the orbital base, Wentian and Mengtian, were launched, each docking with Tianhe, and completing the construction of the space station.

Since last year, the Tianhe core module has had three astronauts aboard it for short stints. The space station's continuous occupancy begins on Tuesday, with overlapping stays by two crews of astronauts. Three Shenzhou 15 astronauts will fly up to the space station and spend a week with the astronauts already there from Shenzhou 14 in a coordinated exchange of roles similar to what happens on the International Space Station. The 14 astronauts from Shenzhou will fly back to China, while the 15 astronauts from Shenzhou will stay aboard Tiangong until May next year, when they will be replaced by another team.

The initial astronauts are all from China, but officials said on Monday that they would welcome astronauts from other countries.