China's Manned Space Agency confirmed that the country will send Tuesday its first civilian astronaut into space as part of a crewed mission to the Tiangong space station.

Until now, all Chinese astronauts that have been sent into space were members of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).

"Payload expert Gui Haichao is a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics," the agency's spokesperson, Lin Xiqiang, told reporters on Monday.

According to Lin, Gui will be "mainly responsible for the on-orbit operation of space science experimental payloads."

The agency specified that the mission's commander is Jing Haipeng, while the third crew member is Zhu Yangzhu.

It mentioned that the three are set to take off on Tuesday at 9.31 am (0131 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.

Notably, China has invested billions of dollars in its space program, aiming to eventually send humans to the Moon.

Beijing is planning to construct a base on the Moon and the country's National Space Administration revealed that it aspires to send a crewed lunar mission by the year 2029.

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