China welcomes foreign astronauts, space tourists

China will promote the participation of foreign astronauts and space tourists in space station flights. It's confident that its space station will welcome more new members from different backgrounds in the near future, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

China has already trained three batches of astronauts and the selection of the fourth batch of astronauts will be completed soon, Lin Xiqiang, the spokesman of the Shenzhou XVIII mission, said at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center during a news conference.

Also, after being enlisted, the latest batch of Chinese astronauts will join the team of active astronauts to carry out subsequent nations and realize China's human landing on the Moon, he added.

In general, China's astronaut team boasts a reasonable age diversity and professional variety. Every astronaut has always kept the mission of flying to space in mind since joining the team. Also, they are all excellent in mental, physical and professional aspects, Lin said.