By Jerry Omondi
The three Chinese taikonauts carrying out the Shenzhou-14 mission are scheduled to hold a dialogue with African youths on September 6.
Tuesday’s dialogue, hosted by the Mission of China to the African Union, the China Manned Space Agency, and the African Union Commission, will draw African students from Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Somalia and Algeria.
The three taikonauts; Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, are on a half-year stay at the China Space Station.
Chen and Liu already have history with Africa, having visited Namibia to share their stories with students back in 2019.
At the time, Chinese astronauts had only made three official overseas visits, and two of those were to Namibia.
Chen and Liu in their visit paid a courtesy call to President Hage Geingob, affirming the strong cooperation between China and Namibia on astronomy.
The Southern African country has enjoyed cooperation with China on astronomy, with the Asian country hosting Namibian technicians in space technology for training programs.
With such support, space exploration has grown in stature in Africa, with other countries taking part.
Tuesday’s dialogue involving Chinese astronauts and African youth will be live streamed on CGTN Digital from 11GMT.
