Talent transfer to next gen aboard Shenzhou XIX

The three astronauts on China's Shenzhou XIX spaceflight mission have docked at the Tiangong space station and met with the astronauts living there on Wednesday, starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover.

This is a significant journey in that two out of the three astronauts on board were born in the 1990s. Particularly Wang Haoze, one of the two astronauts, worked as a senior engineer with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It shows the importance China attaches to scientific research in astronautics.

The team's commander, Cai Xuzhe, was part of the earlier Shenzhou XIV mission. China already has dozens of serving astronauts and now the team has a balanced mix of experienced and new members.