China to send 14th crewed mission to space on Shenzhou-19

Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze attend a press conference before the Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission to China's Tiangong space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 29, 2024. REUTERS

China will send three astronauts into low-Earth orbit on Wednesday in the country's 14th crewed mission to space, where dozens of scientific experiments will be conducted.

Of the 14 crewed missions, eight were visits to China's independently built space station Tiangong, or "Celestial Palace" in Chinese.

The latest Shenzhou-19 mission will be led by Cai Xuzhe, who was on the Shenzhou-14 mission in June 2022. The other two crew members, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, are young astronauts born in 1990 that will be conducting their first mission.

Wang is currently China's only female spaceflight engineer and will be the third female Chinese national to be sent to space. Before Wang Haoze, female astronauts Liu Yang and Wang Yaping each went on two earlier Shenzhou missions.

China launched its first uncrewed spacecraft, Shenzhou-1, in November 1999. Three more unmanned flights followed before Yang Liwei became the first Chinese national to be sent into space on Shenzhou-5.