BEIJING: China launched its Shenzhou-23 mission on Sunday, which will see for the first time a Chinese astronaut spend a full year in orbit, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the Moon by 2030.
The Long March 2-F rocket took off on schedule at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) in a cloud of flames and smoke from the Jiuquan launch center in northwest China’s Gobi Desert, video from state broadcaster CCTV showed.
This is the first space flight ever undertaken by a Hong Kong astronaut: Li Jiaying (Lai Ka-ying in Cantonese), 43, who previously worked for the Hong Kong police.
Other crew members include Zhu Yangzhu, a 39-year-old space engineer, and Zhang Zhiyuan, 39, a former air force pilot, who is traveling in space for the first time.
The crew is expected to carry out numerous scientific projects in the fields of life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and medicine.
A key experiment of Shenzhou-23 will be a full-year stay in orbit by a crew member to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity.
One year experience
The experiment is part of China’s preparations for future lunar missions, as well as missions to Mars.
The astronaut selected for this one-year mission will be named later, depending on the progress of the Shenzhou-23 mission, a spokesperson for the Chinese Space Agency (CMSA) said on Saturday.
The main challenges will be long-term effects on humans, including bone density loss, muscle wasting, radiation exposure, sleep disturbances, behavioral and psychological fatigue, said Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist and professor at Macquarie University in Australia.
He also stressed the importance of reliable water and air recycling systems, as well as the ability to handle possible medical emergencies far from Earth.
China is “steadily” building operational experience for “sustainable occupation” of its Tiangong space station, and the one-year missions are an important step toward future lunar and potentially deep space ambitions, de Grijs said. AFP.
“A year in orbit pushes hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared to the shorter Shenzhou missions of previous phases of the program,” he said.
The crews aboard Tiangong have so far largely remained in orbit for six months before being replaced.
The Shenzhou-23 mission is part of China’s goal of landing astronauts on the Moon before 2030, a race in which the United States is also participating with its Artemis program.
Pakistani crew members
China is currently testing the equipment needed to achieve its goal, with an orbital test flight of its new Mengzhou spacecraft planned for 2026.
The Mengzhou spacecraft will replace the aging Shenzhou line and carry Chinese astronauts to the Moon.
Beijing hopes to have built the first phase of a manned scientific base by 2035, known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
China also plans to welcome its first foreign astronaut, Pakistani, aboard the Tiangong station by the end of this year.
The Asian giant has dramatically expanded its space programs over the past 30 years, pumping billions of dollars into the sector in a bid to catch up with the United States, Russia and Europe.
In 2019, China landed a spacecraft, the Chang’e-4 probe, on the far side of the Moon – a world first.
Then in 2021, it landed a small rover on Mars.
China has been formally excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, when the United States banned NASA from collaborating with Beijing, prompting the Asian giant to develop its own space station project.
