Wang Haoze, China’s first female spaceflight engineer, will be part of the Shenzhou-19 crew launching to the Tiangong space station this week.
Scheduled to lift off on Wednesday at 4:27 AM from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the mission aims to advance China’s goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by 2030.
Wang, 34, expressed her excitement about contributing to the mission and her desire to explore space.
Leading the team is 48-year-old Cai Xuzhe, who previously flew on the Shenzhou-14 mission. The crew will conduct experiments, including testing materials that mimic lunar soil, which could be used for future lunar construction.
China’s space program, under President Xi Jinping, aims to achieve significant milestones, including a crewed Moon mission by 2030.
The Tiangong space station, operational since 2021, is central to these ambitions and will host rotating crews for about a decade.