China unveils Shenzhou 13 crew for next mission to Tiangong space station

Name: China’s Shenzhou 13 to send crew to Tiangong space station for longest space mission yet
Uploaded: 2021-10-14T12:17:09.000Z
Duration: 2 min 12 s
Description: China’s Shenzhou 13 to send crew to Tiangong space station for longest space mission yet

One of the three crew members, Wang Yaping, will become both the first woman on the space station and the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk

Wang and two male colleagues will spend six months on board, building up the space station and carrying out a variety of experiments

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Wang Yaping will carry out a spacewalk during the mission. Photo: Reuters

William Zheng

Published: 8:17pm, 14 Oct 2021Updated: 6:09pm, 15 Oct 2021

China has named the crew for its Shenzhou 13 space mission, including the first female astronaut to board the Tiangong space station.

Wang Yaping, who will spend six months on the space station with male colleagues Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu, will also become the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk.

Shenzhou 13 is expected to lift off at 12.23am precisely on Saturday, Lin Xiqiang a spokesman for the China Manned Space Agency said.

Zhai, 55, and Wang and Ye, both 41, were the backup crew for the recently completed Shenzhou 12 mission. They are on average six years younger than the Shenzhou 12 crew, who returned to earth last month after three months in orbit.

The Long March 2F Y13 rocket that will carry the three astronauts to the space station is now being fuelled. Their probe is expected to reach the Tianhe core module about six and a half hours after lift-off and will be the first to carry out a vertical docking manoeuvre.

Lin said the trio will perform “two to three spacewalks” during their mission to install robotic arms that will be used in construction work.

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China’s Shenzhou 13 to send crew to Tiangong space station for longest space mission yet

He also said that Wang would give a talk that would be broadcast to millions of schoolchildren while in orbit, just like a 2013 lecture that was broadcast to around 60 million pupils nationwide.