China to send youngest 32-year-old astronaut, mice on space mission this week

The crew for China's next manned flight to its space station will include the country's youngest astronaut to undertake a space mission, authorities said Thursday, as well as four lab mice.

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The Tiangong space station -- crewed by teams of three astronauts that are exchanged every six months -- is the crown jewel of China's space programme, into which billions of dollars have been poured in a bid to catch up with the United States and Russia.

Flight engineer Wu Fei, who has just turned 32, is set to become the youngest Chinese astronaut to undertake a space mission, authorities said.

He will be commanded by veteran space pilot Zhang Lu, 48, who took part in the Shenzhou-15 mission more than two years ago.

Payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, 39, makes up the third member of the crew.

Also along for the ride are four mice -- two male and two female -- which will be the subjects of China's first in-orbit experiments on rodents, CMSA spokesperson Zhang said.

Commander Zhang Lu said he was confident his team would "report back to our motherland and its people with complete success".

Beijing's space programme, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.