China Is Sending the First Woman Astronaut to Its Brand New Space Station – Futurism

In 2013, Wang Yaping became the country's second female astronaut. Tomorrow, she's going back.Crewed Up

China has unveiled the crew for its Shenzou 13 mission to the countrys brand new Tiangong space station, including the first female astronaut to venture to the outpost, the South China Morning Post reports.

Wang Yaping will spend six months on board the space station the countrys longest crewed mission to date alongside astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu. She could also become the first female Chinese astronaut to complete a spacewalk.

After eight years of relentless effort, I am going back to space again, Wang told reporters on Thursday, as quoted by SCMP. Students, let me know what you want to learn this time. I will prepare a great lecture for you in orbit.

Yaping became Chinas second female astronaut to go to space during her stay on board the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft. The small capsule orbited the Earth in 2013 and docked with the Tiangong-1, an early prototype space station.

The countrys first female astronaut was Liu Yang, who traveled to space as part of the Shenzhou 9 mission in 2012, eight and a half years after Chinas first-ever crewed mission.

Zhai trained with the European Space Agency and is fluent in English. That makes him an important part of the countrys efforts to host other countries on the Tiangong space station, SCMP reports.

The crew will be tasked with working on other modules of the space station and carrying out scientific experiments.

China has big plans to finish the construction of its Tiangong space station. Next year, the countrys space agency is planning to complete six missions, including two crewed missions and the addition of two new modules housing laboratories.

The team will also have a reason to celebrate. The astronauts on the upcoming missionwill be the first Chinese astronauts to celebrate Lunar New Year in space, according to SCMP.

READ MORE: China unveils Shenzhou 13 crew for next mission to Tiangong space station [South China Morning Post]

More on Chinas space program: The Bunks in the Chinese Space Station Are Absolutely Enormous

Care about supporting clean energy adoption? Find out how much money (and planet!) you could save by switching to solar power at UnderstandSolar.com. By signing up through this link, Futurism.com may receive a small commission.

Follow this link:
China Is Sending the First Woman Astronaut to Its Brand New Space Station - Futurism