The three taikonauts for China's Shenzhou-14 mission greet people before the launch to the China Space Station at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwestern China, June 5, 2022. /CFP
The three Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, carrying out the Shenzhou-14 mission will have a dialogue with African youths in an event in late August, which will be live streamed on CGTN Digital.
The three taikonauts are Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, who are on their half-year stay at the China Space Station, a spacecraft that orbits around the Earth and provides a home for Taikonauts. They were launched in June and will help assemble the space station and use the Wentian and Mengtian space labs.
Three taikonauts report to ground control after entering the China Space Station, June 6, 2022. /Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Chen and Liu visited the African country of Namibia to share their stories with students back in 2019.
China's manned space program is open to international cooperation, which means there may be African astronauts working in the China Space Station in the future.
Hosts of the "Talk with Taikonauts" event are collecting questions for them from the internet, according to the official Twitter account of the China Mission to the African Union (AU).
The official logo for the "Talk with Taikonauts" event taking place in late August. /China Mission to the AU
"Young African friends" can email their questions to au@chinaculture.org or chinamission_au@mfa.gov.cn with the subject of "Talk with Taikonauts" to participate, said the Twitter handle.
Videos and photos are also welcome, the best of which will be put into a promotion video for the event, the tweet added.
"Your participation will surely contribute to the event," the mission said.
The deadline for question submission is July 17.
(Edited by Gong Zhe)