China to send 1st civilian into space aboard Shenzhou XVI

The Shenzhou XVI spacecraft will set out on Tuesday morning to transport three Chinese astronauts to the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency said on Monday.

The journey will be the maiden flight of China's third generation of astronauts, and the first time a Chinese civilian has traveled to space.

Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the agency, gave details of the flight at a news conference on Monday morning at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The crew members of Shenzhou XVI — mission commander Major General Jing Haipeng, Colonel Zhu Yangzhu and Professor Gui Haichao — will be lifted in the spacecraft by a Long March 2F carrier rocket at 9:31 am on Tuesday from the Jiuquan center in the Gobi Desert.