China’s Shenzhou 16 mission blasts off to space with first civilian astronaut onboard

BEIJING – China launched Shenzhou 16 mission on Tuesday as its space race with the US picked up pace in recent times.

It is for the first time that China has sent a civilian into orbit as the country has been following its strategy to send a crewed mission to the moon and to mount a moon base in the coming years.

As Bejing aimed to enlarge its lastingly inhabited space station, three astronauts, including a civilian, blasted off to Tiangong space station, in the second in-orbit crew rotation. A Chinese professor is the first civilian to be on a spaceflight as all previous members were members of China’s People’s Liberation Army.

Shenzhou-16 spacecraft dubbed as Divine Vessel took off into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China. The new members will reinstate the 3-member crew of the Shenzhou-15, who arrived at the space station last year.

Amid the space race, China is slated to send another crewed mission to space in 2023 as the East Asian nation has been pushing it all for development opportunities in space.

Beijing achieved significant progress in its space program and has achieved several noteworthy milestones. The county’s first manned space mission started in 90s, and first crewed mission, took place in October 2003, as China was the third country to send humans into space.