Shenzhou 23

Shenzhou 23 is an active Chinese crewed mission to the Tiangong space station. The Shenzhou 23 spacecraft launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on May 24, 2026 atop a Long March-2F rocket, carrying commander Zhu Yangzhu, pilot Zhang Zhiyuan, and payload specialist Li Jiaying, whose Cantonese name is Lai Ka-ying. The mission is operated by the China Manned Space Agency as part of the Shenzhou human-spaceflight program. The crew arrived during a period of unusually long Tiangong operations following the extended Shenzhou 21 mission. Xinhua and SCIO reporting from late June 2026 described the Shenzhou 23 crew as having completed its first month aboard Tiangong, with work including space-medicine experiments, in-orbit robot interaction tests, EEG-based visual-motor research, health-monitoring data collection, and routine station operations. CMSA reporting also described the mission as including a one-year in-orbit stay experiment, while leaving the final duration and crew-return details open during the active flight.