China to recruit new reserve astronauts for future space missions

The combo photo shows the crewed spaceship Shenzhou-13, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, being launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi Desert, Oct. 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- China will recruit 12 to 14 new reserve astronauts for future spaceflight missions, announced the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) Sunday.

Among the reserve astronauts, also the fourth batch of China's astronauts, seven to eight will be spacecraft pilots, and five to six will be spaceflight engineers and payload specialists, including two as payload specialists, said the CMSA.

The spacecraft pilots will be recruited from the in-service pilots of the armed forces, according to the CMSA.

The spaceflight engineers will be selected from those engaged in scientific research and engineering work in aerospace engineering and related fields, while the payload specialists will come from researchers focusing on space science and applications, said the CMSA.

As the organizer of the recruitment, the CMSA will, for the first time, select payload specialists from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The recruitment of the new astronauts is expected to be completed in one and a half years, said the CMSA.