China’s new Shenzhou 23 mission is headed for Tiankung Station.
China sent the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft to its space station on Sunday with three astronauts on board. One of them will remain in space for the first time for a whole year as part of preparations for the planned landing on the moon by 2030, reports TASR according to the AP agency.
The ship took off from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in northwestern China. Mission commander Zhu Yangchu, astronaut Zhang Chiyuan and astronaut Li Jiaying, who will be the first person from Hong Kong on a space mission, according to Chinese media, are heading to the Tiangong space station.
Long-term stay in space
The crew has dozens of scientific and application projects on the agenda, state media reported. At the station in orbit, it should replace the astronauts of the Shenzhou 21 mission, who have been on the station for more than 200 days.
One of the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 23 mission should stay at the Tianjing station for one year, which would be one of the longest stays in space worldwide. This astronaut’s mission is to “explore human adaptability and performance limits” under long-duration spaceflight conditions.
Sino-American competition in space
China is expanding its space program and its astronauts have flown numerous missions to the Tianjin space station, built after the country was effectively excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) due to US national security concerns.
According to AP, the United States is seen as China’s main rival in space, with the American agency NASA aiming to land astronauts on the surface of the moon in 2028.
