Gui Haichao, born in November 1986, is the first Chinese civilian in space and was also selected as a member of China's third batch of astronauts in 2020, serving as a payload specialist.

"The word 'astronaut' was sacred and far from me in the past, and I've been dreaming of moving my research work into space one day," he said. "I didn't hesitate to sign up when I learned in 2018 that the country was about to select payload specialists."

With Gui's arrival, the space station will welcome its first payload specialist.