Beijing: China, which is working on a plan to send astronauts to the Moon before 2030, on Thursday sent its youngest crew to its space station. The Shenzhou 17 spacecraft carrying the crew lifted off atop a Long March 2-F rocket at 11:14 a.m. from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. According to the China Manned Space Agency, the average age of this three-member crew is the lowest among the teams sent since the beginning of the space station construction mission. The average age of the space crew is 38 years.
Amidst competition from America to achieve new achievements in space, China is working on a plan to send astronauts to the Moon by the end of this decade. It reflects the competition between the world’s two largest economies for increasing influence in the technology, military and diplomatic sectors. The three astronauts who left for the space station, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengji and Jiang Xinlin, are going to replace the team that has been on the station for six months. Tang is more experienced in this and led the 2021 space mission for three months.
