Jiuquan: The Shenzhou-21 astronauts are set to launch their mission to China's Tiangong space station tonight, carrying four mice to be raised and experimented on in orbit on the Chinese space station.
According to Thai News Agency, the China Manned Space Administration (CSA) unveiled the Shenzhou-21 mission's three-member crew, who will be deployed to China's Tiangong space station tonight. The crew includes Zhang Lu, the commander; Wu Fei, the spacecraft's flight engineer; and Zhang Hongzhang, the payload specialist who is China's youngest astronaut at just 32 years old. During their six-month orbital stay, the crew will conduct 27 new scientific and applied research projects.
Even more interestingly, four mice, two males and two females, will be launched aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft to be raised in microgravity in orbit. This is the first time China will conduct scientific experiments with rodents in space, focusing on the effects of space environments, such as microgravity and enclosed spaces, on their behavior. Upon completion of the mission with the astronauts, the spacecraft will bring the mice back to Earth, and further scientific research will be conducted to explore the stress response and adaptive changes in the mice's tissues and organs in the space environment.
The Shenzhou-21 manned spacecraft will be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 11:44 p.m. Beijing time tonight to complete a six-month mission aboard China's Tiangong space station, replacing the Shenzhou-20 crew, who are due to return to Earth next month.