A SPECIAL lecture will begin at 3:40 p.m. Thursday, given by the three Shenzhou-13 crew members aboard China’s space station, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced yesterday.

The three astronauts, namely Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, will interact with students on Earth. The primary ground classroom will be at the China Science and Technology Museum. Classrooms will also be set up in Nanning of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, Hong Kong and Macao, said the CMSA.

The astronauts will introduce and display their living and working scenes in the Chinese space station. They will also demonstrate projects like cytological experiments, the motion of objects and the surface tension of liquids in the microgravity environment. They will have real-time interaction with the ground classrooms to spread the knowledge of crewed spaceflight and inspire young people.

Three Chinese astronauts went into space onboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship and entered the country’s space station Oct. 16, embarking on the country’s longest-ever crewed mission for space station construction.

In June 2013, Chinese female astronaut Wang Yaping, assisted by the other two crew members aboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, delivered the country’s first space lecture to over 60 million schoolchildren across China via live video streaming.

In another development, Ye Peijian, a senior Chinese scientist in deep-space exploration, said in a recent interview with the State broadcaster CCTV that it is “entirely possible” for China to perform a crewed lunar landing before 2030.

“I personally think that as long as the technological research for manned moon landing continues, and as long as the country is determined [to achieve the goal], it is entirely possible for China to land people on the moon before 2030, “ Ye said.

Chief designer of China’s first moon probe Chang’e-1 and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ye noted that space exploration is not just a matter of science, but also something related to the future of a nation.

“Countries that can lead in space technology have advanced technologies in various fields. In turn, space technology is something that can feed back to technologies in other aspects,” Ye added.

Last year, China’s Chang’e-5 mission retrieved moon samples weighing about 1,731 grams, which were the first lunar samples in the world in over 40 years.

After analyzing the lunar samples, Chinese researchers in October announced that they have dated the youngest moon rock at around 2 billion years in age, extending the “life” of lunar volcanism 800-900 million years longer than previously known.

(Xinhua)