At 2:45 am Beijing time on Monday, 25 May 2026, the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft completed a 3.5-hour automated rendezvous and docked at the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station. The mission marks two firsts simultaneously: the first astronaut from Hong Kong to reach orbit, and China’s first attempt at a continuous year-long human spaceflight.

The three-person crew launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Sunday evening. Commander Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan are the second and third names on the mission manifest. The third member, Lai Ka-ying — also known by the Mandarin transliteration Li Jiaying — was born and raised in Hong Kong and holds a doctoral degree in computer forensics. She becomes the first astronaut from the city on a space mission and China’s fourth female astronaut to travel to orbit.

One of the three astronauts is scheduled to remain at Tiangong for a full year — among the longest single human stays in space ever attempted. The mission objective, according to China’s space agency, is to “explore human adaptability and performance limits” in long-duration spaceflight environments. The year-long study is a direct preparatory step for China’s planned 2030 crewed lunar landing and longer-term deep-space ambitions.

Tiangong currently has six astronauts aboard following the docking — the eighth in-orbit crew gathering in Chinese aerospace history. The departing Shenzhou 22 crew — Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang — are scheduled to return to Earth on 29 May aboard the Shenzhou 22 vehicle, closing what has become China’s longest human spaceflight mission to date. The Shenzhou 23 spacecraft incorporates enhanced window protection in direct response to a debris incident that damaged an earlier vehicle and stranded a crew temporarily last year.

The United States is China’s most direct space rival. NASA aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028. China’s stated target is 2030.

— Sources: Associated Press, NPR, CBS News, Tech Times, China Manned Space Agency