China to launch first civilian astronaut into space on Tuesday

China will launch its first civilian astronaut into space on Tuesday as part of a crewed mission to the Tiangong space station, according to the Manned Space Agency, as Beijing pursues its extra-terrestrial goals.

The world’s second-largest economy has poured billions of dollars into its military-run space project in an attempt to catch up with the United States and Russia after years of lagging behind.

Until recently, all Chinese astronauts have been members of the People’s Liberation Army.

“Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,” China Manned Space Agency Spokesperson Lin Xiqiang told reporters Monday.

Gui will be “mainly responsible for the on-orbit operation of space science experimental payloads”, Lin said.

According to official media, the commander is Jing Haipeng, who is on his fourth voyage into orbit, while the third crew member is engineer Zhu Yangzhu.

They are scheduled to launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China on Tuesday at 9:31 a.m. (0131 GMT), according to the Manned Space Agency.

Gui’s institution, Beihang institution in English, stated that he was born into an “ordinary family” in western Yunnan province.

According to the university, he “first felt the attraction of aerospace” when listening to the news of China’s first man in space, Yang Liwei, on-campus radio in 2003.

‘Space dream’

Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream” have been put into overdrive.

China is planning to build a base on the Moon and the country’s National Space Administration said it aims to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2029.

The final module of the T-shaped Tiangong — whose name means “heavenly palace” — successfully docked with the core structure last year.

The station carries a number of pieces of cutting-edge scientific equipment, state news agency Xinhua reported, including “the world’s first space-based cold atomic clock system”.

Once finished, Tiangong is expected to remain in low Earth orbit at between 400 and 450 kilometres (250 and 280 miles) above the planet for at least 10 years — realising an ambition to maintain a long-term human presence in space.

It will be constantly crewed by rotating teams of three astronauts, who will conduct scientific experiments and help test new technologies.

While China does not plan to use Tiangong for global cooperation on the scale of the International Space Station, Beijing said it is open to foreign collaboration.

It is not yet clear how extensive that cooperation will be.

China has been effectively excluded from the International Space Station since 2011 when the United States banned NASA from engaging with the country.

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