BEIJING — China sent three astronauts to its permanently inhabited space station on April 25 for a six-month stay, in a regular rotation of Chinese astronauts onboard the “Tiangong” orbiting high above the Earth’s atmosphere.
The spacecraft Shenzhou-18, or “Divine Vessel”, and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north-west China at 8.58pm, according to state media.
Leading the six-month mission was 43-year-old Ye Guangfu, who last went to Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace” in Chinese, in October 2021 in China’s second crewed mission to the station.
Accompanying him this time were Lieutenant-Colonel Li Cong, 34, and Lieutenant Li Guangsu, 36, both in space for the first time and hailing from the latest batch of astronauts on China’s spaceflight programme.
The three men are all former air force pilots.
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