An astronaut from Hong Kong will join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew that launches on Sunday as Beijing moves closer to its goal of landing humans on the moon.
The Tiangong space station — manned by teams of three astronauts that typically rotate every six months — is the crown jewel of China’s space program, fueled by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up to the United States and Russia.
The Shenzhou-23 mission will blast off at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, carrying three astronauts to the space station, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) spokesman Zhang Jingbo told reporters on Saturday.
The team consists of Lai Ka-ying, hailed by state media as Hong Kong’s first astronaut, Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan, the spokesman said.
Flight engineer Zhu, who participated in the Shenzhou-16 mission in 2023, will be the commander.
The main objectives of the mission are to “continue to carry out space science and application work, carry out activities outside the astronauts’ vehicles and transfer cargo in and out of the cabin,” CMSA’s Zhang told reporters.
One of the astronauts will undertake a year-long experiment of staying in orbit, he added, without specifying who.
China is “steadily” building operational experience for the “sustainable occupation” of its Tiangong space station and the year-long missions are an important step towards future lunar and potentially deep space ambitions, said Macquarie University’s Richard de Grijs.
“A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operating regime compared to the shorter Shenzhou missions of previous phases of the program,” the professor of physics and astronomy told AFP.
Beijing’s space program, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.
China has stepped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping.
Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the moon by 2030, with the aim of building a base on the lunar surface.
CMSA said Saturday that it will “make every possible effort and strive tirelessly” to achieve that goal.
