China Launches Shenzhou 23 with Historic Yearlong Space Mission

Successful Launch from Northwestern China

China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft Sunday night with three astronauts heading to its space station, and the spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030.

Historic Yearlong Mission

China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft with 3 astronauts heading to its space station, with one astronaut set to stay in space for a year to explore human adaptability in long-duration spaceflights. 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, with the astronaut's mission to "explore human adaptability and performance limits" in long-duration spaceflight environments.

The Crew

The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name, with Lai being born and raised in Hong Kong and holding a doctoral degree in computer forensics, making her the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

Mission Objectives

The crew is set to conduct dozens of science and application projects, and they are also expected to complete an in-orbit rotation with the crew of Shenzhou 21, who has been at the Tiangong space station for more than 200 days. 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 U.S. concerns, with the U.S. seen as China's top space rival, with NASA aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.