JIUQUAN, China — China was set to launch the Shenzhou-21 spaceship to its orbiting space station on Friday, sending its newest rotation of three astronauts — along with four mice. The latest astronaut crew taking off from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China includes pilot and mission commander Zhang Lu, who also was on the Shenzhou-15 mission to the space station two years ago. The other two are flying for the first time. Wu Fei, 32, an engineer, is the country’s youngest astronaut to join a spaceflight. Zhang Hongzhang is a payload specialist who was a researcher focusing on new energy and new materials before becoming an astronaut. Zhang said the team would turn the space station into a “utopia” by doing tai-chi, gardening and appreciating poetry on the Tiangong space station. Like those before them, they will stay at the station for roughly six months. While in space, the astronauts planned to conduct 27 scientific and applied projects in biotechnology, aerospace medicine, materials science and other areas. For the first time, China is sending mice to its space st
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