BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's Tiangong space station is set to welcome another spectacled visitor. Zhang Hongzhang, researcher from a leading natural science institute, will conduct experiments in orbit 400 km above Earth, elevating his quest for achieving groundbreaking studies to cosmic heights.
The 39-year-old space debutant is a payload specialist on the Shenzhou-21 crewed mission, which is scheduled for launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China late on Friday.
Together with two crewmates, Zhang will perform various experiments during their six-month stay in the weightless orbital lab, including experiments he designed on Earth.
"I am excited to carry out the experiments in space and hopeful they will lead to inspiring breakthroughs," the scientist-turned-taikonaut told journalists one day ahead of the launch of the Shenzhou-21 spaceship.
Zhang is a true lab enthusiast. His career started at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he frequently immersed himself in a laboratory, while also reviewing literature and designing experiments. Zhang often worked late into the night -- regularly until two or three in the morning.
His dedication earned him a PhD, led to breakthrough research and won many accolades from the scientific community.
As his science career continued to flourish, a new opportunity emerged for Zhang in 2018. That is when China began selecting its third batch of taikonauts -- expanding the pool of candidates to engineering and scientific professionals.
In 2020, Zhang was selected as one of four payload specialists. Also among them was university professor Gui Haichao, who later participated in the Shenzhou-16 mission as China's first civilian payload expert.
Since then, Zhang has done a bit less lab work and stepped into a rather different career.
Zhang was accustomed to mental tasks but not physical challenges. The lab nerd responded by dedicating much more time to running and doing pull-ups in the gym -- striving to meet the physical training standards required of a taikonaut.
"I have gradually transformed from a bookworm into an athletic youth," Zhang joked when chatting about the changes he underwent after joining the taikonaut program.
During the upcoming six-month space journey, the Shenzhou-21 crew will carry out extensive scientific experiments -- including an electrochemical and optical study on lithium-ion batteries for space applications.
This aligns closely with Zhang's expertise.
He has been engaged in research on new energy and advanced materials, fields in which China has made remarkable progress through sustained innovation and the successful commercialization of cutting-edge technologies. A prime example is the country's emergence as a global leader in the production and sales of new energy vehicles.
During the next five years through 2030, China aims to accelerate the development of industrial clusters in strategic emerging fields such as new energy, new materials, aviation and aerospace. This makes Zhang's research aboard the space lab even more meaningful.
"On China's space station, we are able to conduct scientific research that previous generations aspired to carry out but were unable to undertake, and to work on solving important challenges that earlier researchers hoped to overcome," Zhang said, adding that he particularly values the opportunity to conduct experiments in the space lab.
His fellow crew members see Zhang as a person who possesses a composed personality and who adopts a pragmatic approach to his work. The bookish scholar is also a romantic, enjoying cultivating vegetables, growing flowers, practicing Tai Chi and reading poetry.
"Let's imagine the scene of his work over the next six months -- he will be conducting experiments, growing greens, reciting verses and performing Tai Chi, turning the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) space station into a poetic haven in the cosmos," Shenzhou-21 crew commander Zhang Lu said when talking about Zhang Hongzhang at a media briefing on Thursday. ■