Shenzhou-23 Crewed Spacecraft Launch | China Space Station
China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft successfully blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on May 24, 2026, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.
The spacecraft, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).
The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Li Jiaying, the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.
After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.
Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's crewed spaceflight program and the seventh crewed flight mission since the Tiangong Space Station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.
Zhu Yangzhu 朱杨柱, Commander & Flight Engineer (second spaceflight)
Zhang Zhiyuan 张志远, Pilot (first spaceflight)
