Editorial | Shenzhou 16 mission giant leap for civilians in space programme
- Among the Tiangong space station crew is a Beijing university professor, China’s first non-military astronaut, and hopefuls from Hong Kong and Macau may follow in his footsteps
Space exploration, pushing the frontiers of mankind, has exerted a firm grip on the public imagination. Thanks to its role in it, the military has basked in the reflected glory of national achievements.
Ultimately, it is scientific research from space probes and platforms that will most enrich the knowledge of our universe and unlock the advances to be made.
In that respect civilians will share the limelight, and play an increasingly important role in China’s space programme.
That is what sets the launch of the Shenzhou 16 spacecraft apart. One of the three astronauts, who docked with the Tiangong space station less than seven hours later, was drawn from outside the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army and is Gui Haichao, a professor at Beijing’s Beihang University, the first Chinese civilian to go into orbit.
Gui is a payload specialist, a term with which the public will become increasingly familiar. It refers to a scientist or engineer who manages complex or classified mission equipment and conducts scientific activities.
02:22
China’s Shenzhou 16 mission sends its first civilian astronaut into space
The astronauts are on a five-month mission to relieve the inaugural Tiangong crew, and mark “a new stage of application and development” in the country’s space programme, according to Shenzhou 16 mission commander Jing Haipeng, who is on his fourth journey into space, a record for China’s astronauts.