The first space mission with an entirely Chinese crew will start today, Wednesday 17 June. The three astronauts Nie Haisheng (56 anni), Liu Boming (54) e Tang Hongbo (45) they will depart from the Gobi Desert to reach the Chinese Tiangong orbiting station. Haisheng, the eldest of the group, will also be the camp and is on his third journey into space: in 2005 he was part of the first Chinese mission with more than one astronaut and in 2013 of the one aimed at testing the landing technology. Borming was the first Chinese astronaut to walk space, while Hongbo is on its first launch into orbit, despite following the training program for 11 years.
The mission, called Shenzhou-12, is the first of four that will reach the orbiting station, marking a clear acceleration in the space expansion program decided by the Beijing government, which also on this side openly rivals the United States and NATO.
After the trips to the Moon last December and to Mars last May, the aim is to equip the space station with a full staff by December 2022.
China’s programs for the conquest of space mark a fundamental step also at the political level: precisely for political reasons, its astronauts have been ousted from the ISS (the international space station), a project from which also the Russia has decided to go out, to follow one of its own, which is expected to start in 2030.