Overview
- A Long March 2F rocket carrying Shenzhou-23 lifted off and the spacecraft docked with the Tiangong space station after a rapid automated rendezvous on Sunday, May 24, 2026.
- Payload specialist Lai Ka-ying, also reported as Li Jiaying, became the first person from Hong Kong to fly on a Chinese crewed mission and has entered Tiangong with commander Zhu Yangzhu and astronaut Zhang Zhiyuan.
- CMSA says one crew member will be kept aboard for about a year as part of China’s first long-duration residency test to study radiation effects, bone and muscle loss, sleep and psychological stress in microgravity.
- The crew will carry out more than 100 science and application experiments, perform planned spacewalks and handle cargo transfer tasks that include life-science studies such as stem cell and animal embryo research.
- The flight uses hardware and operational changes made after a suspected debris hit on a prior mission and includes a planned seat-swap with a Pakistani short-visit later this year to enable the year-long stay and build experience for a 2030 lunar goal.