China launches 3 astronauts, including 1st ever from Hong Kong, to Tiangong space station (video)
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Credit: CCTV
China launched its next crew to the Tiangong space station on Sunday, May 24, as part of a mission that will relieve astronauts who have been in orbit for a month longer than expected and send an astronaut on China’s first one-year space flight.
A 203 feet long (62 meters) Long walk The 2F rocket launched the Shenzhou 23 mission Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 11:08 a.m. EDT (15:08 GMT; 11:08 p.m. local time in Jiuqan).
Shenzhou 23 sends the next trio of astronauts to Tiangong to begin a six-month stay aboard the space station. This trio consists of Zhu Yangzhu (the mission commander), Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying. Lai is the first Hong Kong astronaut to reach space.
The crew of China’s Shenzhou 23 mission to the Tiangong space station. From left to right: Payload Specialist Lai Ka-ying, Commander Zhu Yangzhu and Pilot Zhang Zhiyuan. | Credit: CMSA/CCTV
The launch also marked the start of a historic manned space flight for China: one of the three astronauts begins a one-year stay in orbit, a first for the country. Indeed, Shenzhou 24, scheduled for launch at the end of this year, will be used to send a Pakistani astronaut to Tiangong for a short visit.
This first international visitor to Tiangong will arrive on the 24th from Shenzhou but will then take the seat of one of the Shenzhou 23 astronauts a few days later when the spacecraft returns to Earthletting a Shenzhou 23 astronaut spend a year in orbit. (Chinese space officials have not yet indicated which astronaut will carry out this extra-long mission.)
The launch of Shenzhou 23 also heralds the end of what has become China’s longest human spaceflight mission to date – the emergency mission. Shenzhou 21.
The new crew will take control of Tiangong from the Shenzhou 21 astronauts, who saw their Shenzhou 20 colleagues use their Shenzhou 21 spacecraft to return home after suspected debris impact damaged the Shenzhou 20 vehicle. Unmanned Shenzhou 22 was then sent to Tiangong to provide a lifeboat for the Shenzhou 21 astronauts – Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang – and is now scheduled to return them to Earth on May 29.
Shenzhou 23 is the 11th crewed mission to Tiangong. The first such flight took place in June 2021, when Shenzhou 12 visited the station’s Tianhe core module; two other crewed missions assisted in the assembly of the three-module installation, which was completed in late 2022. Shenzhou 22 was launched uncrewed as part of an emergency response to provide a lifeboat.
The Shenzhou 23 mission follows shortly after the launch of Tianzhou 10 A cargo spacecraft, arrived in Tiangong on May 11, delivering nearly seven tons of supplies.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at noon ET on May 23 with the launch date and time as well as the identities of the three Shenzhou 23 astronauts. It was updated again at 1 p.m. ET on May 24 with news of the launch success.
