Astronauts train hard for one-year in-orbit stay

The Shenzhou-23 crew for China's new space station mission has trained hard for the country's first one-year in-orbit stay experiment.

Astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying will carry out the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission, and Zhu will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Saturday.

The three astronauts are respectively a flight engineer, a spacecraft pilot and a payload specialist.

One astronaut from the Shenzhou-23 crew is set to carry out a one-year in-orbit stay experiment, and the selection will be determined based on how the mission unfolds in orbit.

"The one-year mission in my view is not merely an increase in time. Although six-month in-orbit missions have become regular for us, the cumulative impact on an astronaut from an additional one-month or two-month stay is still perhaps unknown, and it might be exponential increase. So for me as an astronaut, if I were to carry out a one-year in-orbit mission, first I need to train actively, lifting my routine physical training standards to improve my physical strength reserve. I also need to actively prepare psychologically, to have a stable mentality for the mission. It is a key aspect in my ground trainings, to constantly toughen and improve my psychological stability and tolerance," said Zhang.

The one-year in-orbit stay experiment is aimed at understanding the physiological and psychological impacts of weightlessness and space radiation environments on an astronaut, and recording the adaptation of the human body to a long-term space environment, so as to better the medical support system for deep-space missions.

The astronaut taking the one-year mission will also get ready for the switch of roles aboard the space station.

"In our training system, spaceflight engineers and pilots are backups for each other. A spaceflight engineer needs to master skills of a spacecraft pilot, and be able to act as a payload specialist when necessary, or carry out extravehicular activities," said Zhu.

The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 23:08 on Sunday (Beijing Time) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Astronauts train hard for one-year in-orbit stay

The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting concluded in east China's Suzhou on Saturday, yielding fruitful results and laying significant groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

The trade ministers' meeting focused on "building an open and predictable regional and multilateral economic and trade order" and "fostering new engines of innovative and dynamic trade and investment cooperation."

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao briefed the media on the meeting's outcomes at a press conference.

Wang said the meeting issued a joint statement titled the Suzhou Statement, and approved the latest edition of the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services.

All parties agreed to advance policy innovation and reform in services trade, build an open and predictable investment environment, improve regional trade facilitation and supply chain resilience, strengthen standards coordination, and enhance intellectual property protection, Wang told the media.

He also said that substantial progress was made on a framework document for regional digital trade cooperation and the ministers emphasized promoting inclusive AI development, strengthening AI-related trade, and bridging the digital divide to ensure shared benefits from digital transformation.

The minister noted that the outcomes of the meeting demonstrated strong cooperation willingness, highlighted an innovation-oriented approach, and reflected inclusiveness and shared benefits. "The fact that Asia-Pacific economies can come together, uphold the original aspiration of promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation while supporting economic growth and prosperity, and engage in in-depth discussions on the important issue of 'where multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation is headed,' fully demonstrates that open regionalism and true multilateralism enjoy broad support, and that mutual success and shared development serve the fundamental interests of all economies," Wang said.

2026 APEC trade ministers' meeting concludes with fruitful results