China to launch new crewed mission into space this week
China's previous crewed mission, Shenzhou-19, launched last October and will reach its planned end date on Apr 29.
It is headed by Cai Xuzhe, a 48-year-old former air force pilot who served a previous stint aboard the Tiangong space station as part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.
Also among the crew is Wang Haoze, 35, who is China's only female spaceflight engineer and the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission.
Song Lingdong, a 34-year-old man, completes the trio.
The Shenzhou-19 team has been carrying out tests to see how extreme radiation, gravity, temperature and other conditions affect "bricks" made from components imitating lunar soil, according to reports at the time of the launch.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has forged ahead with plans to achieve its "space dream".
Its space programme was the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.
The jewel in the crown is Tiangong, the space station staffed by teams of three astronauts that are rotated every six months.
Beijing says it is on track to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030.
In recent decades, the country has poured billions of dollars into developing an advanced space programme on par with the United States and Europe.
In 2019, it landed its Chang'e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon – the first spacecraft ever to do so. In 2021, it landed a small robot on Mars.
Tiangong, whose core module, Tianhe, launched in 2021, is planned to be used for about 10 years.
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