China female spaceflight engineer realises dream

Three Chinese astronauts, including China's only female spaceflight engineer, entered the Tiangong space station on Oct 30 following an early morning launch into orbit.

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The Shenzhou-19 mission took off with its trio of space explorers at 4.27am from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north-west China, state news agency Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Among the crew is Lieutenant-Colonel Wang Haoze, 34, who is China's only female spaceflight engineer, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). She is the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission.

The crew arrived around 12.51pm and met with the astronauts from the previous Shenzhou-18 mission, "starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover", state news agency Xinhua said.

The new Tiangong team will carry out experiments with an eye to the space programme's ambitious goal of placing astronauts on the moon by 2030 and eventually constructing a lunar base.

"Like everyone else, I dream of going to the space station to have a look," Lt-Col Wang told a media gathering on Oct 29 alongside her fellow crew members, lined up behind podiums and tall panes of glass to seal them off from the public.

"I want to meticulously complete each task and protect our home in space," she said.

"I also want to travel in deep space and wave at the stars."