China says it is ready to deliver the next crew to its orbiting space station early Wednesday

JIUQUAN, China — China said all systems are ready to deliver the next crew to its orbiting space station early Wednesday, the latest mission to make the country a major space power.

The two men and one woman will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the past six months.

The new mission commander, Cai

Song was an air force pilot and Wang an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, who will be the crew’s cargo specialist. Wang becomes the third Chinese woman on board a manned mission.

The three appeared at a brief press conference behind protective glass on Tuesday and declared their intention to carry out their scientific projects on the space station and “bring pride to the homeland.”

The Shenzhou-19 spaceship carrying the trio will be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China atop a Long March-2F rocket, the backbone of China’s human space missions. The launch time has been set at 4:27 a.m., according to space agency spokesman Lin Xiqiang.

China built it own space station after being excluded from the International Space Stationlargely due to United States concerns over complete control of the program by the People’s Liberation Army, the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party.

In addition to putting a space station into orbit, the space agency has done just that an explorer landed on Mars. It means to put someone on the moon before 2030, which would make China the second country after the United States to do so. It also plans to build a research station on the moon.

The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the US – still the leader in space exploration – and others, including Japan and India. America plans to land astronauts on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, via NASA the target date has been postponed until 2026 earlier this year.

During the upcoming mission, the space station will receive supplies from an unmanned spacecraft, which will help them conduct space walks and replace and install equipment to protect the Tiangong station from space debris, much of which has been created by China.

The mission ends in late April or early May. Lin, the spokesman, said China has taken measures in case the astronauts need to return early.

China launched its first manned mission in 2003, becoming only the third country to do so, after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The space program is a source of enormous national pride and a hallmark of China’s technological progress over the past two decades.