Clear for launch: (From left) Astronauts Zhang Hongzhang, Wu Fei and Zhang Lu waving during a ceremony before their flight to ‘Tiangong’ space station at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province. — Reuters
THE nation’s Shenzhou-21 space rocket and its crew, including the youngest member of its astronaut corps, blasted off on Friday atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, Chinese state media reported.
It was the seventh mission to the permanently inhabited Chinese space station since it was completed in 2022.
