Crew of Shenzhou XIX mission awarded for service

The three crew members of China's Shenzhou XIX space mission have been awarded medals honoring their service and accomplishments.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission conferred a second-grade Space Service Medal on mission commander Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe, and third-grade Space Service Medals on crew members Lieutenant Colonel. Song Lingdong and Lieutenant Colonel Wang Haoze on Wednesday.

Song and Wang were also given the title "Heroic Astronaut." Cai has received honorary titles for a previous flight mission. All three are part of the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Division, headquartered in northwestern Beijing.

Cai and his teammates launched from the Jiuquan center on Oct 30 last year and arrived at the Tiangong space station later that day, becoming the eighth crew to man the Chinese station. After several days of handover work, the crew took over the outpost in early November from their peers on the Shenzhou XVIII mission.

They spent 183 days in low-Earth orbit about 400 kilometers above ground, completing scientific and technological tasks and conducting three spacewalks, including one that set a world record for the longest spacewalk. During the mission, Cai became the first Chinese astronaut to complete five spacewalks.

Wang became the third Chinese woman to fly into space, following Liu Yang and Wang Yaping, and the first female spaceflight engineer in the country. Before her, Zhu Yangzhu, a male astronaut on the Shenzhou XVI mission, was China's first spaceflight engineer. Wang is also the only woman in China's third-generation group of astronauts.