China is set to send one of its youngest ever astronauts into space this week, along with a small contingent of four laboratory mice, in its next mission to the country’s orbiting space station. According to officials with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the flight engineer chosen for the journey, Wu Fei, has just turned 32 and will become the youngest Chinese astronaut to undertake a space mission.
The mission—designated Shenzhou‑21—is scheduled to launch at 11:44 pm on Friday (15:44 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, CMSA spokesperson Zhang Jingbo said. Wu Fei will fly alongside veteran astronaut Zhang Lu, age 48, who previously participated in the Shenzhou-15 mission more than two years ago, and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, age 39.
Wu Fei described his selection as an extraordinary opportunity, saying: “I feel incomparably lucky… Being able to integrate my personal dreams into the glorious journey of China’s space programme is the greatest fortune this era has bestowed upon me.”
A unique scientific element of this flight is the inclusion of four laboratory mice—two male and two female—onboard for China’s first in-orbit rodent experiments, the CMSA confirmed. The trial marks a significant step in the country’s biological research efforts in space, as it seeks to deepen understanding of how living organisms respond to micro-gravity and other space-flight conditions.
The station to which they are travelling, the Tiangong Space Station, is crewed by rotating teams of three astronauts every six months and is described as the crown jewel of China’s rapidly growing space programme, developed to rival the United States and Russia’s long-established capabilities.
Chinese authorities say the mission is part of an ambitious drive under President Xi Jinping to realise the country’s “space dream,” which includes achieving a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and constructing a lunar surface base. The CMSA noted that in the months ahead, it will carry out “crucial upcoming tests” including those related to its planned lander, code-named “Lanyue,” and the “Mengzhou” manned spacecraft.
The upcoming flight also sends a broader message about China’s growing ambitions in space. As the third country to send humans into orbit independently, China has already landed robotic rovers on both Mars and the Moon. By selecting a younger astronaut and undertaking new biological experiments in orbit, China appears to be signalling its intention to accelerate both human-spaceflight capacity and life-science research beyond Earth.
As the launch time approaches, all eyes will be on the performance of the crew and the mice payload, as China seeks to further validate its space station operations and experiment capabilities. It remains to be seen how the data gathered from the mice will inform longer-term plans for human habitation in space or lunar missions, but the flight certainly marks a milestone for China’s space frontier.
