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A three-member Chinese crew, including the nation’s youngest astronaut, successfully docked early Saturday at the Tiangong space station, bringing along four lab mice. The Shenzhou-21 craft connected with the station at 3:22 a.m. (1922 GMT Friday), according to China’s state news agency, Xinhua. This happened roughly three and a half hours after launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, using a Long March-2F rocket.
The Tiangong station, operated by teams of three astronauts who rotate every six months, represents the pinnacle of China’s space efforts—an investment of billions aimed at closing the gap with the U.S. and Russia. China has ambitious plans to send humans to the Moon by the end of this decade and to establish a lunar base.
Commander Zhang Lu, a veteran astronaut, is leading the crew alongside 32-year-old Wu Fei, China’s youngest space explorer, and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, aged 39. The crew bid farewell to colleagues and family at the remote Gobi Desert launch site as a patriotic tune played in the background. Zhang Lu expressed confidence in their mission’s success, promising they would “report back to our motherland and its people.” Wu Fei shared feelings of being “incomparably lucky” for his first spaceflight.
Joining them on this mission are four mice—two males, two females—participating in China’s first in-orbit biological rodents experiments.
Beijing’s space agenda is the third globally to send humans into orbit, following the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. Under President Xi Jinping, China accelerated its “space dream,” achieving notable milestones such as landing the Chang’e-4 lander on the far side of the Moon in 2019—the first spacecraft to do so—and landing a small rover on Mars in 2021.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) outlined key upcoming trials in preparation for its 2030 lunar mission. Besides scientific objectives, the crew will conduct spacewalks and install anti-debris shields on the exterior of Tiangong. They will also engage in space education activities to inspire future talent, both domestically and internationally.
Since the U.S. barred collaboration with China on the International Space Station in 2011, Beijing has sought to forge new international partnerships, including a deal with Pakistan in February to send the first foreign “taikonauts” into space.
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