Chinese astronauts to conduct experiments in space, including lunar bricks

Three astronauts from China docked successfully at the country's permanently inhabited homegrown space station on Wednesday, where they will conduct dozens of scientific experiments, some related to the construction of human habitats.

The three crew members, including the leader of the crew, Cai Yuzhe, 48, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze, both 34, blasted off into space aboard the spacecraft Shenzhou-19 at 4:27am on Wednesday.

The spacecraft and its crew lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, according to Chinese media.

"During the Shenzhou-19 flight ... 86 space sci-tech experiments will be carried out in the fields of space life sciences, microgravity physics, materials, medicine, new technologies," Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), said in a press conference on Tuesday.

One of these experiments is expected to involve exposing bricks made from simulated lunar soil to conditions in space.

Should the tests prove successful, the bricks could be a key material used in the construction of a permanent lunar research station, which China hopes to complete by 2035, as it would in theory be more convenient than transporting building materials from Earth.

The bricks will be sent in a separate uncrewed cargo spaceflight to the Shenzhou-19 crew next month.

Additionally, Lin highlighted that two of the three astronauts crewing the Shenzhou-19 were born in 1990 and conducting their first spaceflight, with Wang also being the third female Chinese national sent into space.

Meanwhile, Yuzhe was part of the Shenzhou-14 crew that completed Tiangong's construction. Outside the mission, all three crew members are part of the Chinese military's air force.

The Shenzhou crewed spaceflights have been a regular fixture of China's space program for the past two decades and have increased in frequency in recent years as China built and began operating its "Tiangong" space station, officially completed in November 2022.

The fast development of China's manned and unmanned space program has alarmed the United States, which has encountered issues with its own crewed spaceflights.

Two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) astronauts brought to the International Space Station by Boeing's Starliner capsule in June have been stranded there since due to unforeseen issues with the spacecraft's propulsion system. They are expected to return in February 2025 on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

CMSA's Lin on Tuesday said that in order to avoid similar issues, the emergency response plan has been "continuously optimised" so that astronauts have more time to deal with scenarios such as damage to the Shenzhou-19 caused by space debris.

Lin added that Shenzhou-20 and its carrier rocket were on standby and ready to perform an emergency rescue mission if necessary.

The Shenzhou-19 crew is expected to return to Earth next year in April or May.