Veteran Chinese astronaut to lead fresh crew to space station

The Shenzhou-20 mission is scheduled to blast off at 5:17 pm Thursday (0917 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, announced at a news conference.

At the helm will be Chen Dong, a 46-year-old former fighter pilot and experienced space explorer who in 2022 became the first Chinese astronaut to spend more than 200 cumulative days in orbit.

Speaking about Thursday's Shenzhou mission -- which will be his third -- Chen said he was "still very excited".

"Every space journey is very unique, so I look forward to bringing in more experience and breakthroughs in the flight," said the mission commander.

Joining Chen will be two other male astronauts, Chen Zhongrui, a 40-year-old former air force pilot, and Wang Jie, a 35-year-old former space technology engineer.

Both will be embarking on their first space flight, Lin said.

"Today, I am on the point of realising my dream of flying in space," said Chen Zhongrui at another press conference Wednesday organised to introduce the astronauts to the public.

"To be honest, when we first started training together, we were still a little nervous," he said of himself and Wang.

"Now (the three crew members) are integrated like a single person," he added.

The astronauts currently aboard the Tiangong space station are scheduled to return to Earth on April 29 after completing handover procedures with the incoming crew, Lin added.

China's space programme, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.

The Tiangong space station -- crewed by teams of three astronauts that are exchanged every six months -- is the crown jewel of the country's space project.
Space rivalry
China has ramped up plans to achieve its "space dream" under President Xi Jinping.

Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, where it intends to construct a base on the lunar surface.

To achieve its celestial goals, China has poured billions of dollars into the country's space program in a bid to catch up with the United States and Russia.

Despite the program's "impressive" pace of development, China still "lags significantly behind the United States", Marc Julienne, director of Center for Asian Studies at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), told AFP.

However, US President Donald Trump "may inadvertently give China an edge by cutting budgets allocated to research and certain space programs", the expert added.

Like previous missions, the Shenzhou-20 crew will continue to conduct experiments in physics and life sciences and will install protective equipment against space debris.

For the first time, they will also bring planarians aboard –- aquatic flatworms known for their regenerative abilities.

"The results could help address problems related to injuries sustained in space environments," said Lin on Wednesday.

China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011, when the United States banned NASA from collaborating with Beijing.

Since then, China has sought to bring other countries into its space program.

In February, China and Pakistan signed an agreement paving the way for the first foreign astronaut to board the Tiangong space station.

As part of this process, "two Pakistani astronauts will be selected to come to China for training", the CMSA confirmed on Wednesday.