China has sent its first civilian into orbit as it prepares to launch a manned mission to the moon by 2030 and achieve what President Xi Jinping has described as the country’s “eternal dream” of becoming a space power.
Gui Haichao, an aerospace engineering professor who studied in Canada, was one of a crew of three “taikonauts”, as China’s astronauts are known, who blasted off from north-west China’s Gobi Desert on Tuesday, bound for the country’s space station.
The launch of the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft, China’s 11th crewed space mission, was preceded by a choreographed “departure ceremony” that featured a band and well-wishers waving Chinese flags. State media provided blanket coverage of the launch.
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