BEIJING – The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced today that it will recruit 12 to 14 new reserve astronauts for future spaceflight missions.
Among the reserve astronauts, also the fourth batch of the nation's astronauts, seven to eight will be spacecraft pilots, while 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 Macau special administrative regions.
The recruitment of the new astronauts is expected to be completed in one and a half years, the CMSA said.
– Xinhua, MPD
