The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has announced the selection of ten candidates for its fourth batch of astronauts. This group includes eight space pilots and two payload specialists, marking a significant milestone as it is the first time payload specialists have been chosen from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region.
The inclusion of representatives from Hong Kong and Macao has received strong support and enthusiastic participation from local communities, demonstrating the widespread interest in China's expanding space endeavors.
The selected candidates will undergo comprehensive and systematic training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center. This preparation is part of China's ambitious plan to achieve a manned lunar landing by 2030, as announced by the CMSA in late May.
Huang Weifen, chief designer of the manned space program's astronaut system, emphasized that the astronaut team is being built to support both current space station missions and future lunar endeavors. "We have opened fundamental courses related to geology and arranged relevant training, including field studies and geological surveys," Huang stated. "As we develop training simulators for manned lunar missions, our training tasks will become even more substantive."
The selection process for the fourth batch began in the second half of 2022. This follows previous selections of 14 astronauts in 1998, seven in 2010, and 18 in 2020, which included space pilots, flight engineers, and payload specialists.
The CMSA highlighted that China's astronaut selection and training system has become increasingly sophisticated and well-established. With the deepening of international cooperation in crewed space exploration, foreign astronauts will be invited to participate in the selection and training process and will subsequently carry out missions in China's space station.
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10 candidates selected for China's fourth batch of astronauts
cgtn.com
