Space dream: A staff member from the China space programme stands before the launch platform of the Shenzhou-16 Manned Space Flight Mission ahead of the launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China’s northwestern Gansu province. — AFP
The country will send its first civilian astronaut into space as part of a crewed mission to the Tiangong space station, its Manned Space Agency announced, as Beijing pushes ahead with its extraterrestrial ambitions.
The world’s second largest economy has invested billions of dollars into its military-run space programme, trying to catch up with the United States and Russia after years of belatedly matching their milestones.
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