China set to send three astronauts to its first permanent space station, Tiangong

Zhai Zhigang, who was chosen as mission commander for the six-month trip, graduated from China’s first group of astronaut trainees in the 1990s, the Reuters news agency reported. Selected from more than 1,500 potential astronaut candidates in 1998, Zhai, once a fighter pilot in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, eventually conducted China’s first spacewalk.