China Launches Shenzhou-21 Mission with Its Youngest Astronaut

China successfully launched its Shenzhou-21 spacecraft on October 31, carrying three astronauts and four small mammals to the Tiangong space station, state media reported. The crewed mission lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.

The flight marks the seventh journey to China’s permanently inhabited space station since its completion in 2022. Each Shenzhou mission sends a team of three astronauts for a six-month stay in orbit, with the country’s newer recruits gradually replacing older veterans.

This time, the crew includes first-time astronauts Zhang Hongzhang, 39, and Wu Fei, 32, the youngest Chinese astronaut ever to travel to space. The mission is commanded by Zhang Lu, 48, who previously flew on the Shenzhou-15 mission in 2022.

First Small Mammals Sent to Tiangong

The Shenzhou-21 astronauts will take over from the Shenzhou-20 crew, who have been aboard the Tiangong space station—meaning «Heavenly Palace»—for more than six months. The Shenzhou-20 team is expected to return to Earth in the coming days.

In a first for China’s space programme, the new crew is accompanied by four black mice, the first small mammals ever sent to the Chinese space station. They will be used in experiments studying reproduction in low Earth orbit.

Growing Ambitions in Space

China’s Shenzhou missions have become a regular fixture, launching twice a year as part of an expanding human spaceflight programme. In the past year, the country has reached several milestones, including sending astronauts born in the 1990s, completing a record-setting spacewalk, and planning to train and send the first foreign astronaut—reportedly from Pakistan—to Tiangong next year.

These rapid advances have heightened concerns in Washington, which is accelerating its own lunar ambitions to return a U.S. astronaut to the moon before China achieves the same goal. Both powers are also competing to shape the future of space governance: the U.S.-led Artemis Accords for lunar exploration face a rival initiative in the Chinese and Russian-backed International Lunar Research Station.