The crew of the Shenzhou-23 mission has reached the Tiangong space station

In the second half of April, the third extravehicular activity of the Shenzhou-21 crew was conducted. Now the mission of these taikonauts is coming to an end, replaced by the astronauts of the Shenzhou-23 mission who arrived on board the Chinese Tiangong space station in recent days. It is worth noting that the Shenzhou-22 mission was substantially "absorbed" by the two previous ones due to the failure of the Shenzhou-20 capsule.

The launch of the Shenzhou-23 mission took place at 17:08 on May 24 (Italian time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center using a Long March 2F Y23 rocket. The docking with the main module Tianhe of the CSS occurred after 3.5 hours. Taikonauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying were able to meet their colleagues Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhhang, who were already aboard Tiangong, exchanging initial greetings and beginning the transition between the two crews.

Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying are respectively a flight engineer, a pilot, and a payload specialist. Zhu Yangzhu had already participated in the Shenzhou-16 mission in 2023, while the other two members are novices. Lai Ka-ying is the first member from Hong Kong aboard Tiangong and the fourth astronaut after Liu Yang, Wang Yaping, and Wang Haoze.

Shenzhou-21 spent 204 days in space, currently holding the record for the longest mission, but this is expected to be surpassed by the new group. One of the most interesting innovations of the Shenzhou-23 mission is that its duration will not be about 6 months, but approximately 1 year. This will allow astronauts to experience weightlessness and microgravity for an extended period, thus gathering data for future deep space missions (between the Moon and Mars).

Zhang Jingbo (spokesperson for the CMSA) stated, "assigning an astronaut to a year-long stay in orbit is not simply doubling the duration of two six-month missions". Bian Qiang (expert at the Chinese Astronaut Center) added that "to face these challenges, we have strengthened the physical fitness of the astronauts and the reserves of various physiological functions, while intensifying training in psychological resilience and crew compatibility".

As in the past, Shenzhou-23 will conduct over 100 scientific projects and engineering experiments, including materials science, fluid behavior in microgravity, drug development in microgravity, and much more. The payload also includes rice seeds that are to grow in space, generating at least two generations. Microorganisms and plants will be exposed to radiation outside the modules to understand the impact on their development.