Photo: courtesy of the CMSA

China announced Tuesday it will launch the Shenzhou-19 manned spaceflight mission at 4:27 am on Wednesday, unveiling the crew lineup. Leading the mission will be Commander Cai Xuzhe, a veteran taikonaut who previously flew on the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022. Joining him are two astronauts making their first journey into space - Song Lingdong and female astronaut Wang Haoze. 

Lin Xiqiang, a CMSA spokesperson, shared the news at a Tuesday press conference.

Born in 1976, Cai was selected as part of China's second batch of astronauts in 2010.

Commander Cai is set to return to the China Space Station on the Shenzhou-19 manned mission 22 months after his last flight on Shenzhou-14, setting a record for the shortest interval between missions in the history of Chinese astronauts, Global Times has learned.

Song was born in 1990 and joined the third astronaut cohort in September 2020. The Shenzhou-19 mission is Song's debut in space.

Wang, also born in 1990, was a former senior engineer at the country's leading space contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), and became part of China's third batch of astronauts in 2020. Wang is also the country's first female spaceflight engineer, according to the China Manned Space Agency on Tuesday.

Global Times learned from the Sixth Academy of the CASC, Wang, after graduating with a Master's degree in 2015, joined Beijing Institute 11 of the Sixth Academy, taking on the overall design task of engines. 

The Sixth Academy provided 58 main propulsion and attitude-orbit control engines, along with critical equipment like the thermal control subsystem and life support system pumps and valves. The Sixth Academy will escort astronauts with its top-quality engine products, ensuring the mission's complete success. 

In a press briefing on Tuesday in Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Cai told Global Times that China's manned space program is like a relay race, with countless aerospace professionals participating, building, and carrying on the legacy. "Astronauts are part of this endeavor. Both of my teammates were born in the 1990s, and we share a common goal to represent our country with pride. Together, we strive, we run forward."

"Today, I can share that we have been training together for over a year, consistently maintaining peak readiness and adhering to the highest standards. After such a long time working side by side, we've become a united team. My two teammates are courageous, confident, positive, and have a strong sense of responsibility and mission. They are quick learners, adaptable, and being with them makes me feel younger and more confident," Cai remarked.

Lin, during the Tuesday press conference, also revealed that the fourth batch of Chinese astronauts will not only execute China Space Station missions but also the country's manned lunar missions in the future. And therefore, their training subjects emphasize essential skills such as living, working and maintaining health in a weightless environment.

The selection of the fourth batch Chinese astronauts has concluded in May and total of 10 astronaut candidates made to the final list, with eight of them to be space pilot and two as payload experts. Their training started in August, according to Lin.

Subsequently, based on the training outline and overall plan, training tasks will be conducted in an orderly manner, covering over 200 subjects in eight major categories, following a step-by-step approach from basic to advanced levels, he said. 

Astronauts will master specialized skills including extravehicular activities, equipment maintenance, and space science experiments. Additionally, in preparation for future manned lunar missions, training will further develop astronauts' capabilities in spacecraft operation, lunar rover driving, celestial navigation, geological fieldwork, as well as adapting from weightlessness in space to walking with loads on the lunar surface, the spokesperson revealed.

Two payload experts selected in the fourth batch astronauts are from China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and they joined the team on August 8. "We believe that the fourth batch of astronauts, including those from Hong Kong and Macau, will complete each training task on schedule and with high quality, gradually becoming the backbone of future manned space missions," Lin said on Tuesday. 

Lin also said that the lunar rover proposal underwent two selection rounds. Ultimately, the teams from the CASC's Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and the China Academy of Spacecraft Technology won the top two spots. 

Each team demonstrated unique strengths in innovation and advancement, and both received contracts to develop a prototype of the lunar rover, progressing in parallel. Following the completion of the prototype phase, a comparative assessment will be conducted to determine the final team responsible for developing the lunar rover for China's first manned lunar mission.

Commenting on the situation of two NASA astronauts stranded in the International Space Station, Lin remarked that "human spaceflight activities are always accompanied by risks and challenges, and the safety of astronauts is a top priority for governments worldwide and for people around the globe. As industry peers, we are closely following the developments regarding the delayed return of the US astronauts. Reflecting on the sequence of events, we commend NASA for prioritizing astronaut safety, and we wish the two astronauts a safe return."

China's manned space program always prioritizes quality and safety, placing astronaut safety above all. Since entering the application and development phase of the China Space Station, the program has fully implemented a quality assurance system covering every stage — from individual component production to final assembly and testing at the launch site — conducting regular reviews and rechecks to ensure that no issues go unresolved before launch. 

To address potential threats like space debris collisions that could cause leaks in the space station, the program has continuously optimized its emergency response plans. Compared to the early operational phase of the space station, the time available for astronauts to handle emergencies has increased fivefold, significantly enhancing the safety of both the space station and its crew. In extreme situations, astronauts can either return early aboard an in-orbit spacecraft or rely on a standby emergency spacecraft for rescue, he said.

"Currently, a Long March-2F Y20 rocket and Shenzhou-20 spacecraft stand by in the Jiuquan assembly building, ready to quickly transition into launch mode if necessary to execute an emergency rescue mission for the space station, ensuring the safety of the astronauts," Lin stated.