As the Shenzhou-23 astronauts are preparing for their departure, the trio have shared the personal items they will bring to accompany them during their stay in space in an interview with the China Media Group (CMG).
Family-related objects are the first to go into their luggage, carrying emotions that will bridge the distance between Earth and space.
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, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Saturday.
The three astronauts, Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, are respectively a flight engineer, a spacecraft pilot and a payload specialist. Zhu, who once participated in the Shenzhou-16 space mission, will serve as the commander.
Zhang and Lai come from the third and fourth batches of astronauts, respectively, and will embark on their first spaceflight mission. Before being selected, Zhang served as a fighter pilot in the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force, and Lai worked in the Hong Kong Police Force.
"I will bring two small gourds into space. The gourd is a symbol in traditional Chinese culture which represents fortune and blessings. It's a way to express my feelings for my family, to keep them close to my heart. I also brought some family photos and made a new photo album. I had already made two albums before. I took the scenes of our family life and group photos from 2023 to 2026 and put them into this album, so I can look through it while I am in space," said Zhu.
"My family prepared some greeting letters for me to open on special holidays and key dates. The contents of these letters are a secret to me now. So opening them later at a certain time will be like opening mystery boxes, something I truly look forward to. I also brought zodiac dolls representing each of my four family members. During the mission, these little dolls will provide me with great psychological support in my spare time," said Zhang.
"Actually, the main things I brought into space are the drawings and letters my children made for me. I had asked them to write me letters as homework, and they were really enthusiastic about it. Each of them wrote me a letter every month. I had thought they might write together to save weight, since we have strict limits on what we can bring. But each of them wrote me letters every single month, and my husband wrote，too. So I have quite a lot of letters -- more than twenty in total," said Lai.
Notably, all the three astronauts have chosen physical, tangible items that carry emotional value.
"So I used my limited weight allowance to bring these physical items to space. When I'm up there, flipping through them page by page feels much more personal. An electronic version always feels like there's a screen in between. With physical copies, you have the tactile sensation in your hands. It's a different experience," said Zhu.
"Once I'm up in space, I know I'm going to miss them a lot. But when that happens, I can just pull out the letters and pictures they wrote and drew for me and have a look," said Lai.
In addition to their personal belongings, the Shenzhou-23 crew will also bring gifts for the Shenzhou-21 crew, who have already been in space for seven months. "Regarding gifts for [Shenzhou-21 astronauts], we will send up some of the freshest fruits and vegetables to them aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. I believe that after they have been in space for more than half a year, these will be the most delicious and freshest things they could hope for," said Zhang.
Shenzhou-23 astronauts share personal items in their space luggage
