By 
May 23rd, 2026
Lai Ka-ying, Zhu Yangzhu, and Zhang Zhiyuan.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-23 crew will consist of Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying.
The taikonaut trio was introduced to the world at a press event.
Zhu will be the commander and flight engineer, Zhang will be the spacecraft pilot, and Lai the payload specialist.
Zhu previously participated in the Shenzhou-16 space mission.
Zhang and Lai come from the third and fourth batches of astronauts respectively, and will embark on their first spaceflight mission. Before being selected, Zhang was an air force pilot, and Lai worked in the Hong Kong Police Force.
Lai Ka-ying is the first astronaut from China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).
Launch day set
China’s Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 11:08 p.m. Sunday, May 24 (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced today.
This Shenzhou-23 mission marks the seventh crewed spaceflight during the application and development phase of China’s space station, and the 40th flight of China’s human spaceflight program.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft will make a fast and autonomous rendezvous to dock with the radial port of Tianhe, China’s core space station module.
Extended stay
The crew will conduct more than 100 new science and application projects, focusing on frontier fields such as space life science, materials science, microgravity fluid physics, aerospace medicine and new space technologies, CMSA spokesperson Zhang Jingbo said at a press conference held one day prior to the launch of the Shenzhou-23 mission.
One of the Shenzhou-23 crew will be selected for a year-long stay in space. That person will be determined based on how the mission unfolds in orbit, said Zhang.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
During the year-long residency, Zhang said, China will implement its first space-based human body research program to collect crucial data on astronaut exposed to long-duration spaceflight environments.
“Assigning an astronaut to a one-year in-orbit stay is not simply doubling the duration of two six-month missions,” said Zhang.
In-orbit handover
Meanwhile, the now orbiting Shenzhou-21 crew will return to the Dongfeng landing site after completing the in-orbit handover with the Shenzhou-23 crew, said Zhang.
The Shenzhou-21 crew, now up for rotation, has already spent 203 days in orbit and is poised to set a record for the longest single mission duration by a Chinese astronaut crew so far.
Go to these new videos that focus on the upcoming mission of Shenzhou-23 at:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/997327809408810
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1950518928908083
Posted in Space News
