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On Sunday night, China successfully launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft, sending three astronauts to the nation’s space station. Among them, one astronaut is slated to spend an entire year in space.
The launch took place at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in northwestern China. This mission is a significant stride forward as China gears up for its inaugural crewed lunar landing, planned for 2030.
The mission’s crew includes Zhu Yangzhu, who is serving as the commander, along with Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying. Lai is also known as Li Jiaying, her name rendered in Mandarin.
Lai Ka-ying, hailing from Hong Kong and holding a doctorate in computer forensics, marks a historic milestone as the first astronaut from the city to participate in a space mission.
According to state media, the team will undertake numerous scientific and application-oriented projects. Additionally, they are scheduled to carry out an in-orbit crew rotation with the Shenzhou 21 team, who have been stationed at the Tiangong space station for over 200 days.
One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year in what would be among the world’s longest single stays in space.
The astronaut’s mission is to “explore human adaptability and performance limits” in long-duration spaceflight environments, state media reported.
As China steps up its space program, its astronauts have carried out multiple missions to the Tiangong space station, developed after China was effectively excluded from the International Space Station on US concerns over national security.
The US is seen as China’s top space rival, with NASA aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.
China’s space station Tiangong, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” first hosted the country’s crew in 2021.
Last year, an emergency mission in the Shenzhou program, which means “Divine Vessel,” returned a team of astronauts stranded on the space station due to a damaged spacecraft.