China has named the three astronauts due to fly on the Shenzhou 23 mission on Sunday (May 24), including Hong Kong’s first astronaut.
A Long March 2F rocket is due to lift off at 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508 GMT, or 11:08 p.m. Beijing time) on Sunday (May 24) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, sending the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft into orbit to dock with China’s Tiangong space station in low Earth orbit.
Aboard Shenzhou 23 will be commander Zhu Yangzhu, pilot Zhang Zhiyuan and payload specialist Lai Ka-ying. Zhu flew for the first time on the Shenzhou 16 mission in 2023, while Zhang and Lai, from China’s third and fourth batches of astronauts, will be making their first trips to space. The crew were revealed at a press conference at Jiuquan on Saturday (May 23).
Lai is set to become Hong Kong’s first astronaut to fly to space, having previously worked in the Hong Kong Police Force before being selected as an astronaut candidate in 2024.
Another major first from the mission will see one Shenzhou 23 astronaut carry out China’s first continuous year in orbit. The astronaut was not named, but a China Manned Space Agency representative stated that the pilot and payload specialist are able to perform each other’s roles, suggesting that one of the two will stay for a full year in space.
The extended stay for one astronaut will pave the way for yet another first for the Shenzhou 24 mission, due to launch in six months’ time. Aboard will be a Pakistani astronaut, who will spend a few days aboard Tiangong before returning to Earth on the outbound Shenzhou 23 vehicle, taking the seat of the astronaut selected to stay for a full year in orbit.
Hours after launch, the Shenzhou 23 crew will be greeted aboard Tiangong by Shenzhou 21 astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, who are completing an extended seven-month-long mission and will be returning to Earth at the end of the month.
Shenzhou 23 also features enhanced protection for its portview windows, in response to damage to the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft’s window by a suspected debris impact. The incident triggered an emergency response, seeing the Shenzhou 20 crew return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft for safety reasons, and the uncrewed Shenzhou 22 launched to serve as a lifeboat and ride home for the Shenzhou 21 crew.
The Shenzhou 23 mission follows shortly after the launch of the Tianzhou 10 cargo spacecraft, which arrived at Tiangong on May 11, delivering nearly 7 tons of supplies. The Shenzhou 21 crew will return to Earth on May 29, after handing over control of Tiangong to the incoming Shenzhou 23 astronauts.