China sends 34 and 35-year-old astronauts to space as part of youngest ever crew

Spaceship enters its pre-determined orbit in good condition nearly 10 minutes after launch

China on Thursday sent its youngest-ever crew of astronauts to its space station as it launched the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship.

The spacecraft and three Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, lifted off at 11.14am (local time) atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.

The crew had the youngest lineup – two astronauts in their 30s – since the construction of China's Tiangong space station began, the China Manned Space Agency (CSMA) said in a statement.

The spaceship separated from the rocket and entered its pre-determined orbit in good condition nearly 10 minutes after its launch, the CMSA announced. It was the 30th flight mission of China's manned space programme and the 12th manned mission.

The six-month mission was led by former air force pilot Tang Hongbo, 48, who was on the first crewed mission to the space station in 2021.

His fellow crew members were Tang Shengjie, 34, and Jiang Xinlin, 35, who were both travelling to space for the first time. They had joined China's third batch of astronauts in September 2020.

China Launches Shenzhou-17 Manned spaceship (VCG via Getty Images)

Mr Tang's return to the orbiting outpost Tiangong, or "Celestial Palace" in Chinese, sets a new record for the shortest interval between two space missions by taikonauts, hinting at a faster rotation of astronauts in coming years.

Mr Tang is from China's second batch of astronauts in 2010 but had to wait for more than a decade before he was picked for his debut spaceflight in 2021.

He was selected as a member of crew within a year of returning to Earth. “I’m staying true to my mission to do a spaceflight for my country,” he was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

“It never changes, and I have never slacked off.”

Beijing has reportedly begun its selection process for the fourth batch of astronauts, seeking candidates with doctoral degrees in disciplines from biology, physics and chemistry to biomedical engineering and astronomy.

It is also opening the process to applicants from Hong Kong and Macau for the first time.

The first and second batches of astronauts were all former air force pilots, like the older Mr Tang, who joined the People's Liberation Army in 1995 at age 20.

The Shenzhou-17 spaceship will conduct a "fast automated rendezvous with China's space station assembly, forming a combination of three modules and three spaceships", according to Chinese state media CGTN.

The Shenzhou-17 astronauts will replace the Shenzhou-16 crew, who arrived at Tiangong at the end of May.

The Shenzhou-16 crew, consisting of veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, is scheduled to return to Earth on 31 October.