China has made its latest stride into space. On April 24, 2025, launched from the country’s northwestern Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China launched its Shenzhou-20 mission.
Carrying Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie to China’s Tiangong, the mission later successfully docked using a Long March-2F rocket, which lifted the spacecraft into space, with the space station later on in the day.
This is China’s 15th manned space mission as well as the 20th in the Shenzhou program. With each mission, China seems to make steps closer to fulfilling its dream of having astronauts live in space for a long term, just like NASA and all other space agencies have done.
Interestingly, Pakistan might soon send one of its astronauts as a participant for a future Chinese mission. This would become the first foreign astronaut to board China’s space station.
This mission speaks of China’s serious commitment to becoming a super name in space. The country is working hard at making its space station not just a hub for science but also a friendly international teamspace.
