On Sunday at 11:08 pm from the Gobi desert, Lai Ka-ying will become Hong Kong's first astronaut, launching aboard Shenzhou-23 toward the Tiangong space station—a moment that marks both a historic milestone for the territory and another step in China's ambitious push toward the moon.
Lai joins two veteran crewmates, flight engineer Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan, aboard a spacecraft that represents the cutting edge of China's three-decade journey to rival the spacefaring powers of the United States and Russia. The Tiangong space station itself—continuously crewed by rotating teams of three—has become the crown jewel of Beijing's space program, sustained by billions in state investment and now positioned as a testing ground for humanity's next giant leaps.
What sets this mission apart from its predecessors is an experiment that pushes the boundaries of human spaceflight endurance. Typically, Shenzhou crews rotate every six months, but on Shenzhou-23, one astronaut will remain in orbit for a full year. This extended residency is far more than simply doubling two six-month missions, according to China Manned Space Agency spokesman Zhang Jingbo. The year-long stay will gather critical data on how the human body and mind respond to prolonged weightlessness and test whether China's life support systems can sustain an astronaut through the longer durations that future lunar missions will demand.
Zhu Yangzhu, who previously flew on Shenzhou-16 in 2023, will command the mission. In remarks to reporters, he spoke plainly about the stakes: "This is a test of our physical and psychological endurance, emergency response capabilities, coordination and teamwork, as well as our ability to work and live in orbit." As commander, Zhu has focused his preparation on meticulous planning—"how to make thorough preparations in every aspect and how to lead the team in successfully completing the flight mission with zero mistakes and zero errors."
The broader mission objectives include conducting extravehicular activities—spacewalks—and transferring cargo in and out of the station. These operational routines, now becoming almost mundane in their regularity, are building the sustained experience that China needs to realize its "space dream" under President Xi Jinping. By 2030, Beijing aims to land humans on the moon and construct a base on the lunar surface—goals that Richard de Grijs, a professor of physics and astronomy at Macquarie University, notes depend on exactly this kind of preparatory work. "A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared with the shorter Shenzhou missions of the program's earlier phases," he told AFP.
For Hong Kong, Lai's launch carries symbolic weight. Chief Executive John Lee congratulated her on passing "the rigorous selection and training process," recognizing that her ascent represents not just personal achievement but a territorial milestone. Yet Lai's presence on Shenzhou-23 also signals something deeper about the trajectory of Beijing's ambitions—that China's space program now spans the full spectrum of human spaceflight, from orbital missions to robotic rovers on Mars and the moon, and is steadily building toward the sustained, long-duration operations that deep-space exploration demands. On Sunday night, as Shenzhou-23 lifts off, that journey takes another measure forward.