What happens after Shenzhou 23's launch?
發佈日期: 2026-05-25 19:39
TVB News
Shenzhou 23 has successfully docked with the Tiangong space station in the early hours of today. The spaceship was launched at 23:08 on Sunday. The three-crewed spacecraft includes payload specialist Lai Ka-ying, the first Hong Kong astronaut to travel to space.
The Shenzhou 23 crewed spacecraft, using the Long March-2F Y23 carrier rocket, blasted off on time at 11:08 pm on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China. After the launch, the spaceship separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit.
The three astronauts in this mission are: commander and flight engineer Zhu Yangzhu, spacecraft pilot Zhang Zhiyuan and payload specialist Lai Ka-ying from Hong Kong. Lai is not only the first Hong Kong-born astronaut, but she is also China's first female payload specialist.
According to the China Manned Space Agency, the spacecraft docked with the Tiangong space station at 2:45 am on Monday, after a flight of about 3 and a half hours. At 5:13 am, the Shenzhou 23 crew came out from their capsule and entered the space station to meet their colleagues, the Shenzhou 21 astronauts, who had spent 204 days in orbit by Sunday.
The six astronauts took a group picture to mark the moment. They will live together in a station for about a week to conduct a handover. The Shenzhou 23 crew will carry out more than 100 new science and application experiments over their stay, including the Multi-Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory camera, developed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Apart from experiments, the crew will handle cargo transfers, as well as install and retrieve external facilities.
