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China has launched its Shenzhou-23 mission in which an astronaut will spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the moon by 2030.
The Long March 2-F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-western China on Sunday, carrying three astronauts to the Tiangong space station.
The mission marks the first spaceflight ever undertaken by an astronaut from Hong Kong: Lai Ka-ying, 43, who previously worked for the territory’s police.
The other crew members are the space engineer Zhu Yangzhu, 39, and the former air force pilot Zhang Zhiyuan, also 39, who will be travelling into space for the first time.
The crew is expected to undertake numerous scientific projects in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and medicine.
A key experiment will be the full-year stay in orbit by one of the crew to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity, part of China’s preparations for future lunar and possible Martian missions.
The astronaut selected to spend a year in orbit will be named at a later date, the Chinese space agency said.
Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist and professor at Macquarie University in Australia, said the main challenges would be long-term effects on humans, including bone density loss, muscle wasting, radiation exposure, sleep disturbance and behavioural and psychological fatigue.
He also underlined the importance of reliable water and air-recycling systems and the ability to manage potential medical emergencies far from Earth.
He said China was steadily building operational experience for sustained occupation of the Tiangong space station, and year-long missions were an important step towards future lunar and potentially deep-space ambitions.
“A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared with the shorter Shenzhou missions of the programme’s earlier phases,” he said.
Tiangong crews have tended until now to remain in orbit for six months before being replaced.
The Shenzhou-23 mission is part of China’s goal to land astronauts on the moon before 2030 in a race with Nasa’s Artemis programme.
Beijing is also testing the equipment required to reach its goal, with an orbital test flight of its Mengzhou spacecraft set for 2026. It will replace the ageing Shenzhou line and will carry China’s astronauts to the moon.
China hopes to have built the first phase of a manned scientific base, known as the International Lunar Research Station, by 2035.
It also plans to welcome its first foreign astronaut, from Pakistan, to the Tiangong station by the end of this year.
Beijing has significantly expanded its space programmes over the last 30 years, injecting billions of dollars in a push to catch up with the US, Russia and Europe.
It landed the Chang’e-4 probe on the far side of the moon, a world first, in 2019, and a rover on Mars in 2021.
China has been formally excluded from the International Space Station since 2011, when the US banned Nasa from collaborating with Beijing, prompting it to develop its own space station project.
