20 17 will the third batch of astronauts be selected for the society?

On July 26th, at the first China Astronaut Flight Photography Exhibition, China's space hero Yang Liwei revealed that China will start the third batch of astronaut selection this year. Different from the previous astronaut selection criteria, engineers and researchers with engineering backgrounds will be selected for the society, who will be responsible for the maintenance, repair, assembly and extravehicular activities of space stations and spacecraft in the future space missions.

This exhibition released nearly 100 works taken by China astronauts in space, including Yang Liwei's first "self-portrait in space" and Liu Yang's "sleeping station", showing little-known scenes of astronauts working and living in space.

Yang Liwei said: "With the advancement of China's manned project, we are going to select the third batch of astronauts to ensure the construction and operation of the next space station. For these astronauts, it is necessary to select not only the pilots of the spacecraft, but also the aerospace engineers. In the past, the first and second astronauts were all selected from air force pilots, but this time we will face the society and select engineers and researchers with engineering backgrounds. Let them join our astronaut team and take on the tasks of maintenance, repair, assembly and extravehicular of space stations and spacecraft in future space missions. "