before pulling up and draining a 10-footer.

The three will launch for space Thursday evening in China, from Jiuquan, on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China.The three-person crew were sent in October last year and have been in space for 175 days, said Lin.

Chen Dong, who previously served on the Shenzhou 11 and Shenzhou 14 missions, is the group leader, while his two crewmates will be making their first trips to space. Chen Zhongrui was an air force pilot and Wang Jie, an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.“I feel incomparable pride and accomplishment to go to space for my country again,” Chen Dong told reporters on Wednesday. “Each journey to space is unparalleled, I’m looking forward to gaining more experience and more breakthroughs through this flight.”Chen Dong led construction of the space station during the Shenzhou 14 mission.

While in space, the astronauts will carry out experiments in space medicine, and space technology; perform extravehicular trips; and make improvements to the space station.owing to U.S. national security concerns over the control of the country’s space program by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party.

China’s space program has grown rapidly in recent years. The space agency has

and a rover on the far side of the moon. It aims“Countries like Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Philippines have already accepted this regional approach,” the ministry said.

Brazil is one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of poultry, accounting for 14% of global chicken meat production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.following the bird flu outbreak boosted Brazilian egg exports to the U.S., rising by more than 1,000% between January and April 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, according to trade data from the Brazilian government.

Brazil’s agriculture ministry also said Friday the disease is not transmitted through the consumption of poultry meat or eggs.“The risk of human infection by the avian flu virus is low and occurs mostly among handlers or professionals who have close contact with infected birds (alive or dead),” the ministry said.