China's Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship has entered its designated orbit after successfully blasting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center late on Sunday night.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site in the country's northwest at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).
About 10 minutes after launch, the spaceship separated from the rocket and has now entered its designated orbit as it prepares for the docking procedure with the Tiangong space station.
The mission's three crew members, including commander Zhu Yangzhu and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, are in good condition, while the launch was declared a complete success by Li Benqi from the launch center.
The Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast, automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station's Tianhe core module, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.
After completing a handover of the Tiangong space station with the Shenzhou-21 crew, the Shenzhou-23 astronauts will start their mission, and one of them will conduct a one-year in-orbit stay, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.
Notably, astronaut Lai Ka-ying is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.
China successfully sends Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship into designated orbit
