A year in orbit operates under different rules than shorter missions
En una noche de mayo, China envió tres astronautas al espacio a bordo de la Shenzhou-23, iniciando la estancia orbital más larga de su historia: un año completo en la estación Tiangong. Más que una hazaña técnica, esta misión es un acto de preparación humana —un intento de comprender cómo el cuerpo y la mente resisten el vacío prolongado antes de que China intente poner pie en la Luna antes de 2030. En el horizonte de esta empresa late una pregunta que trasciende la geopolítica: qué significa, para nuestra especie, aprender a vivir más allá de la Tierra.
- China lanzó la Shenzhou-23 desde el desierto de Gobi con tres astronautas a bordo, incluyendo a la primera persona de Hong Kong en alcanzar la órbita, marcando un hito simbólico y técnico a la vez.
- Por primera vez, uno de los tripulantes permanecerá un año entero en la estación Tiangong, enfrentando la pérdida ósea, la atrofia muscular, la radiación y el desgaste psicológico que las misiones cortas no revelan del todo.
- La decisión de quién se quedará el año completo aún no está tomada, lo que añade una capa de incertidumbre humana a una misión de precisión científica.
- China planea probar este año la nave Mengzhou —su vehículo lunar de nueva generación— y construir una base habitada en la Luna para 2035, intensificando la carrera con el programa Artemis de Estados Unidos.
- Excluida de la Estación Espacial Internacional desde 2011, China respondió construyendo la suya propia; ahora, con esta misión, demuestra que la exclusión fue un catalizador, no un freno.
China lanzó la Shenzhou-23 en la noche del 24 de mayo desde el centro espacial de Jiuquan, en el desierto de Gobi, a bordo de un cohete Larga Marcha 2F. Los tres tripulantes —el comandante Zhu Yangzhu, el piloto Zhang Zhiyuan y la exoficial de policía hongkonesa Li Jiaying— se acoplaron horas después a la estación Tiangong. Li Jiaying se convierte en la primera astronauta originaria de Hong Kong en llegar a la órbita.
Lo que distingue esta misión de las rotaciones anteriores de seis meses es su duración: uno de los tres permanecerá un año completo en el espacio, aunque la decisión de quién lo hará se tomará más adelante. Un año en microgravedad somete al cuerpo humano a tensiones que las misiones cortas no alcanzan a revelar del todo —pérdida de densidad ósea, atrofia muscular, exposición a la radiación, fatiga conductual y desgaste psicológico. Según el astrofísico Richard de Grijs, de la Universidad Macquarie, la duración cambia las reglas del juego: los sistemas de reciclaje de agua y aire, y la capacidad de atender emergencias médicas lejos de la Tierra, se vuelven críticos.
La misión también incluye experimentos en ciencias de materiales, física de fluidos y medicina, todos orientados hacia un objetivo mayor. China planea probar este año la nave Mengzhou —diseñada para reemplazar a la Shenzhou en misiones lunares— y aspira a construir la primera sección de una base científica habitada en la Luna para 2035.
Este avance ocurre en el contexto de una competencia real con Estados Unidos y su programa Artemis. Cuando en 2011 Washington prohibió a la NASA colaborar con Pekín, China no frenó: construyó su propia estación espacial. Hoy, con la Shenzhou-23 en órbita, la pregunta ya no es si China llegará a la Luna, sino cuándo —y qué hará cuando lo logre.
China sent three astronauts into orbit on a May evening, launching what amounts to a crucial experiment in human endurance. The Shenzhou-23 spacecraft lifted off at 11:08 p.m. local time from the Jiuquan launch center in the Gobi Desert, carried aloft by a Long March 2F rocket that rose in a column of flame and smoke. One of those three crew members will remain aboard the Tiangong space station for an entire year—a first for China's program and a deliberate step toward landing humans on the Moon sometime between now and 2030.
The three aboard are commander Zhu Yangzhu, 39, a space engineer; Zhang Zhiyuan, also 39, a former air force pilot making his first spaceflight; and Li Jiaying, 43, a former Hong Kong police officer who becomes the first astronaut from Hong Kong to reach orbit. Which of them will stay the full year remains undecided; Chinese space officials said that choice will come later, based on how the mission unfolds. The spacecraft docked with Tiangong—the name means "Celestial Palace" in Chinese—after several hours in orbit, and the China Manned Space Agency confirmed the launch as a complete success.
What makes this mission different from previous Tiangong rotations, which lasted six months, is the sheer duration and what it will teach. A year in microgravity exposes the human body to stresses that shorter missions do not fully reveal: bone density loss, muscle atrophy, radiation exposure, sleep disruption, behavioral fatigue, psychological strain. Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist at Macquarie University in Australia, explained to news agencies that the real challenges lie in understanding how humans adapt to these conditions over such an extended period. The reliability of water and air recycling systems becomes critical. The ability to handle medical emergencies far from Earth becomes essential. China has grown competent in these areas, de Grijs noted, but duration changes everything. A year in orbit operates under different rules than the shorter Shenzhou missions that came before.
The crew will conduct numerous experiments in materials science, fluid physics, and medicine—work that feeds directly into the larger ambition. China has invested billions of dollars over three decades to build a space program that rivals those of the United States, Russia, and Europe. The progress has been unmistakable, especially in the last ten years. In 2019, China landed a probe on the far side of the Moon, an achievement no other nation had managed. In 2021, it placed a rover on Mars. These were not symbolic gestures; they were demonstrations of technical capability.
The year-long mission is one piece of a larger puzzle. Later this year, China plans to test the Mengzhou spacecraft in orbit—a new crewed vehicle designed to replace Shenzhou for lunar missions. By 2035, the country aims to have built the first section of an inhabited scientific research base on the Moon, called the International Lunar Research Station. The timeline is ambitious but not fantastical; China has shown it can execute on such plans.
All of this unfolds against the backdrop of American competition. The United States is pursuing its own lunar return through the Artemis program, and the race is real. China was formally excluded from the International Space Station in 2011, when the United States prohibited NASA from collaborating with Beijing. That exclusion, rather than slowing China's ambitions, accelerated them. The country built its own space station instead. Now, with Shenzhou-23 in orbit and a year-long stay about to begin, China is demonstrating that it has the knowledge, the resources, and the will to reach the Moon. The question is no longer whether China will get there, but when—and what it will do once it arrives.
Citações Notáveis
A year in orbit situates material and humans in a different operational regime than shorter Shenzhou missions— Richard de Grijs, astrophysicist, Macquarie University
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a year in space matter so much more than six months? What changes?
The human body adapts to microgravity in stages. Six months teaches you some things. A year teaches you whether those changes become permanent, whether the body can recover, whether the mind holds steady. It's the difference between knowing a problem exists and understanding how to solve it.
And they don't know yet which astronaut will stay the full year?
Not yet. They'll decide as the mission progresses. It's practical—they need to see how each person responds, which one is best suited for that particular strain. It's also a way of keeping options open.
The Hong Kong astronaut—is that symbolically important, or just a fact?
Both. Hong Kong has its own identity, its own institutions. Having one of its citizens reach orbit is a statement about integration, about what China's space program represents now. It's not just Beijing anymore.
China was locked out of the International Space Station. Did that hurt them?
It forced them to build their own. That's the irony. The exclusion was meant to slow them down. Instead, it made them independent. Now they don't need permission from anyone.
What's the real competition here—is it the Moon, or is it something else?
The Moon is the visible prize. But it's really about proving capability, about showing the world that China can do what the superpowers do. The Moon is where that proof gets written.