China launched its youngest astronaut, 32-year-old Wu Fei, along with two crewmates and four lab mice to the Tiangong space station early Saturday, marking another milestone in the country’s rapidly expanding space ambitions.

The Shenzhou-21 spacecraft docked with the Tiangong space station at 3:22am (1922 GMT Friday), just three and a half hours after lifting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China aboard a Long March-2F rocket, state media reported.

The mission carries three astronauts — commander Zhang Lu, flight engineer Wu Fei, and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang — who will spend the next six months aboard Tiangong, conducting scientific experiments and maintenance work.

Meet Wu Fei — China’s youngest astronaut

Wu Fei, at 32, is the youngest astronaut to ever undertake a Chinese space mission. Before launch, he expressed his excitement, saying he felt “incomparably lucky” to represent his country in space.

Mission commander Zhang Lu told reporters he was confident the team would “report back to our motherland and its people with complete success.”

The crew bid farewell to family and colleagues at the Gobi Desert launch site as patriotic music played in the background — a symbolic moment for China’s growing space pride.

China’s first rodent experiment in orbit

Joining the crew are four lab mice — two male and two female — part of China’s first in-orbit rodent experiments. The tests aim to study the effects of microgravity on biological systems, marking a new chapter in the nation’s space research efforts.

The Tiangong space station, which hosts rotating teams of astronauts every six months, is the centerpiece of Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar space program. Under President Xi Jinping’s vision of achieving the “space dream,” China aims to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030 and establish a lunar base in the future.

In recent years, the country has made significant strides — landing the Chang’e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon in 2019 and deploying a rover on Mars in 2021.

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said the Shenzhou-21 mission will include “crucial upcoming tests” for the Moon program, spacewalks, and installation of anti-debris shields on Tiangong’s exterior. The astronauts will also engage in educational outreach to inspire the next generation of space enthusiasts.

While China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011 due to U.S. restrictions on NASA collaboration, Beijing continues to seek international partnerships. In February, China signed an agreement with Pakistan to recruit the first foreign “taikonauts,” expanding its diplomatic reach through space exploration.