The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 23:08 Sunday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday.
Zhang Jingbo, spokesman of the agency, announced the launch schedule while briefing the media on the main tasks of the Shenzhou-23 mission.
"As evaluated and decided by the mission headquarters, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 23:08 on May 24 (Beijing Time). The crew consists of astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, with Zhu being the commander and flight engineer, Zhang being the spacecraft pilot, and Lai being the payload specialist, covering three types of Chinese astronauts now in service," Zhang said.
The Shenzhou-23 mission marks the seventh crewed spaceflight in the application and development phase of China's space station, and the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program.
The crew will conduct more than 100 new science and application projects in orbit, focusing on a number of frontier fields such as space life science, materials science, microgravity fluid physics, aerospace medicine and new space technologies.
"In addition, one of the crew members will carry out a one-year in-orbit stay experiment. This one-year in space stay,is first to carry out China's first human research program in space, which will capture comprehensive data of astronauts' longer flight so as to enrich our experience in mission implementation. Second, it will test our ability to guarantee the astronaut's health over the long haul," said Zhang.
China's Shenzhou-21 astronauts, namely Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, have spent 203 days in orbit as of Saturday, set to set a new record for the longest stay in space by Chinese astronauts, the spokesman said, adding that all the work is progressing smoothly, and the three astronauts are in good condition.
"Following our plan, after the Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft enters orbit, it will adopt an automated and fast rendezvous and docking mode to dock with the radial port of the Tianhe core module, forming a three-spacecraft, three-module complex. After completing the in-orbit crew rotation with the Shenzhou-23 crew, the Shenzhou-21 crew will return to the Dongfeng landing site," said Zhang.
The spokesman also said that on the Space Day this year, which is on April 24, two Pakistani astronauts officially commenced their training at the Astronaut Center of China. They are currently training alongside Chinese astronauts in preparation for upcoming missions.
"As is planned, a Pakistani astronaut will carry out a short-term flight mission as a payload specialist," said Zhang.
To fully leverage the technological expertise and practical experience accumulated over decades through the Manned Space Flight Mission and Chang'e program, the existing manned lunar landing and unmanned lunar exploration efforts will be integrated across three areas — missions, resources, and teams. The integrated program is called the Lunar Exploration Program, said the spokesman.
"Next, we plan to complete key missions, including a technical verification flight of the Long March-10 carrier rocket and the maiden flights of the Mengzhou spacecraft and Lanyue lander. We will spare no effort to strive for the goal of achieving the first Chinese landing on the moon by 2030," he said.
China to launch Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship on Sunday
