China Sends Its Youngest Astronaut, 4 Lab Mice To 'Heavenly Palace' Space Station

Last Updated:November 01, 2025, 16:53 IST

Wu Fei, born in Baotou in 1993, is the youngest Chinese astronaut on the Shenzhou-21 mission with Zhang Lu and Zhang Hongzhang.

Astronauts Zhang Hongzhang, Wu Fei, and Zhang Lu taking part in the Shenzhou-21 spaceflight mission. (Photo: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

32-year-old Wu Fei is the youngest Chinese astronaut who joined the Shenzhou-21 mission as a space engineer. The Shenzhou-21 crew — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang — blasted off at 11:44 pm Friday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The crew also included four lab mice.

The Shenzhou-21 astronauts will take over from the Shenzhou-20 crew who had lived and worked on board Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace," for more than six months.

The veteran astronauts are replaced by the younger faces. As per a report by Reuters, first-timers Zhang Hongzhang, 39, and Wu Fei, 32 – China’s youngest astronaut to be sent to space – were picked to participate in the program in 2020.

Youngest Chinese Astronaut In Shenzhou-21 Mission

Wu Fei was born in 1993 in Baotou. In 2010, he joined Beihang University in Beijing, where he majored in aircraft design.

After completing his master’s degree, Wu became an engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. There, his work focused on thermal testing for spacecraft.

In September 2020, he was recruited as an astronaut.

Four mice — two male and two female — joined the crew as the subjects of China’s first in-orbit experiments on rodents.

News world China Sends Its Youngest Astronaut, 4 Lab Mice To 'Heavenly Palace' Space Station

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