China recruit civilians to work on orbital space stations

Beijing. March 5. Silkroadnews - China will begin recruiting civilian astronauts for its military-backed space program and plans to increase the number of crewed missions to around two a year, Nexstar portal reported.
The third group of Chinese astronauts will include representatives of industry, research institutes and universities, among them maintenance engineers, specialists in payload, as well as pilots, that will help build and pilot China’s independent space station.
China has already trained 14 astronauts in the late 1990s and seven more in 2010, including two women. In total, six missions’ crews included 11 people.
China has already launched Tiangong 2 space stations, and this year will launch a 20-ton core module of the permanent station. The orbital station will start its operation in 2022 and will function for at least ten years.
Reportedly, China was excluded from the 420-ton International Space Station because of the U.S. legislation that banned such cooperation and concerns about the connection of the Chinese space program with the country’s military objectives.
Since China conducted its first crewed missions, it has become the third space power after Russia and the United States. “A mission to land another rover on Mars and bring back samples is set to launch in 2020. China also plans to become the first country to soft-land a probe on the far side of the moon,” the report reads.