The crew members of China's Shenzhou-18 manned spaceflight are confident of the upcoming space exploration mission, pledging to achieve more valuable scientific results, as the departure hour for the country's Tiangong space station has been set in near future.
The Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship is slated to lift off at 20:59 Thursday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said at a press conference on Wednesday, announcing that Chinese astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu are set to undertake the mission, with Ye serving as the commander.
Ye was a crew member of the history-making Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022. Li Cong and Li Guangsu, among the third batch of Chinese astronauts, are both newcomers to space.
The three astronauts met the media at a press conference on Wednesday in Wentian Pavilion in the Jiuquan Satellite Space Center, where all the Chinese astronauts live and train before they go on a mission. April 24 also marked the ninth Space Day of China.
Ye was born in September 1980 and joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in 1998. He once won the honorary title of "Heroic Astronaut."
"The space station, with three modules and three spacecrafts, is an unfamiliar configuration for me, and the number, complexity and operational difficulty of tasks on this mission have significantly increased. My two teammates and I, as well as the entire aerospace team, are fully prepared, and we are full of confidence in performing this mission," said Ye.
During the Shenzhou-13 mission, the ground team assisted Ye in exchanging friendly greetings with a foreign counterpart through email. "(At that time) I was in the Chinese space station and the other astronauts was in the international space station. But we both expressed the hope of exploring the vast universe together, for the benefit of all humankind. I believe that development of China space missions will make a greater contribution to the shared future of mankind," he said.
Li Cong was born in October 1989 and graduated from the Aviation University of Air Force. He was selected as astronaut in 2020.
"It is for sure that we'll get adapted to the space environment quickly, enter the working status soon, and complete the mission smoothly and efficiently, contributing to the great new era with concrete actions," said Li.
Li Guangsu was born in July 1987 and was a professional fighter pilot. He was also selected as astronaut in 2020.
Answering a question from China Global Television Network (CGTN), Li Guangsu said he had high hopes from his maiden space flight.
"Being able to join this mission is my great fortune. Now that the baton of China's manned space program has been passed on to us, we shoulder a glorious mission and great responsibility. We will take the high-quality completion of the task as the primary goal, manage the space station scientifically, and keep improving, striving to achieve more results and valuable results in the space laboratory," he said.
On Wednesday, the CMSA said the fourth batch of Chinese astronauts, a group that has been selected but was yet to be made public, would join the China Space Station program later, as they would also work with all the active astronauts for future manned moon missions.
China plans to land its first astronauts on the moon by 2030.
"Rockets for manned lunar missions are currently undergoing ground-testing for various engines. Construction of the Wenchang Manned Lunar Exploration Launch Site has started. Plans for manned lunar landers, scientific payloads for probing moon-surface are also being selected from proposals submitted by the public," said Lin Xiqiang, the CMSA spokesman.
He also noted that the aerospace workers will coordinate all of the research and construction tasks to ensure the challenging, innovative and progressive missions are completed on time.
The Shenzhou-17 crew onboard the Tiangong space station also watched the press conference and Shenzhou-18 crew's meeting with media. The three astronauts are making final preparations for the coming of the new crew.
"We wish a successful launch of Shenzhou-18 spacecraft, and we are waiting for you at the Tiangong space station, the Shenzhou 18 crew," the Shenzhou-17 crew said in a video message.
It is understood that all pre-launch preparations have been completed - the status and equipment of the Tiangong space station combination are working normally, the operation of the combination of Shenzhou-18 crewed spaceship and the Long March-2F carrier rocket is under control, and the ground system facilities and equipment are running stably.
China's Shenzhou-18 crew confident of upcoming space exploration
