Sunday saw a launch from Jiuquan.
The Long March 2F rocket cleared the atmosphere carrying Shenzhou-23 and its three-person crew. They are bound for Tiangong, China’s orbital station. This isn’t just another six-month stint. One astronaut will stay for a full year. First time ever for anyone.
Hong Kong makes its debut too. Lai Ka-ying is onboard. At 43 she was once a police officer before trading her badge for a spacesuit. She flies with Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan. Both are 39. Both are rookies in zero-G.
They have work to do.
Life sciences, materials, fluid physics. The list is long. But the real focus is time. A 12-month orbit.
“A year in orbit pushes both hardware and into a different operational regime.”
That’s what Richard de Grijs sees. He’s an astrophysicist at Macquarie University. He thinks it’s the next logical step. Six months was enough for now. It was the standard. Year-long missions? That’s the training ground for the Moon. And maybe Mars later.
Why go this deep?
Radiation. Muscle wasting. Bones getting brittle. Sleep disruption. Psychological fatigue. All of it stacks up when you can’t leave for twelve months.
De Grijs says the systems matter as much as the humans. Air recycling, water management. Can you handle a medical emergency when Earth is so far away? China is testing that resilience now. Steady operational experience.
It fits into the bigger picture. Beijing wants humans on the lunar surface by 2030.NASA is racing too with Artemis. This mission feeds that hunger.
Next up is hardware refresh. The Mengzhou spacecraft. A test flight planned for 2026It will replace the aging Shenzou fleet. It’s designed for the trip down to the Moon’s surface.
By 2035 China wants Phase 1 of the International Lunar Research Station done. They aren’t keeping it to themselves entirely. A Pakistani astronaut joins the crew later this year. The first foreigner.
Thirty years ago China’s space program looked very different. Billions poured in. The Chang’e-4 landed on the dark side of the Moon in 2019. A world first. A rover touched Mars two years later.
Now they’re pushing time. One astronaut stays up. Everyone waits. Who will it be? The space agency won’t say just yet.
They just keep orbiting.
