A year in orbit forces both equipment and human physiology into a different regime
One astronaut will remain in orbit for a full year, studying microgravity effects on human physiology—a critical step for China's lunar landing program. The mission includes Hong Kong's first space traveler and represents China's sustained effort to match U.S., Russian, and European space capabilities through billion-dollar investments.
- One astronaut will remain in orbit for a full year, the first in China's space program
- Lai Ka-ying, 43, becomes the first Hong Kong astronaut in the Chinese program
- China plans to land humans on the Moon by 2030 and establish a lunar base by 2035
- The U.S. excluded China from the International Space Station in 2011, prompting China to build Tiangong
China launched Shenzhou-23 with three astronauts to its Tiangong space station, including Hong Kong's first space traveler and a planned year-long orbital stay to prepare for lunar missions by 2030.
On a Sunday morning in May, a Long March 2F rocket lifted off from Jiuquan in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts toward the Tiangong space station and a milestone that signals how seriously Beijing is pursuing its goal of landing humans on the Moon by 2030. The mission, called Shenzhou-23, marks a deliberate escalation in China's space ambitions—and a shift in how long its crews are willing to stay aloft.
Among the three astronauts aboard was Lai Ka-ying, a 43-year-old former Hong Kong police officer, making him the first person from Hong Kong to fly in China's space program. His crewmates were Zhu Yangzhu, a 39-year-old space engineer, and Zhang Zhiyuan, also 39, a former air force pilot on his first spaceflight. But the real story was not who was going up—it was how long one of them would stay there.
For the first time in the Chinese program, one crew member will remain in orbit for a full year. The space agency has not yet announced which astronaut will undertake this extended mission, but the choice carries weight. Until now, Tiangong crews rotated every six months. A year in microgravity is a different animal entirely, and China knows it. The extended stay is designed to gather data on how the human body responds to prolonged weightlessness—bone density loss, muscle atrophy, radiation exposure, sleep disruption, psychological fatigue. These are not abstract concerns. They are the concrete problems that will determine whether humans can survive the journey to the Moon and back, and whether they can work effectively once they arrive.
Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist at Macquarie University in Australia, explained the stakes plainly. A year in orbit forces both equipment and human physiology into an operational regime fundamentally different from the shorter missions China has flown before. The data gathered will be essential not just for lunar missions but for deeper space exploration. De Grijs noted that China has been methodically building operational experience with sustained occupation of Tiangong, and missions of this length represent a crucial stepping stone toward the ambitions Beijing has announced.
Those ambitions are explicit and aggressive. China plans to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, directly competing with NASA's Artemis program. To make that happen, the country is testing new hardware. A crewed test flight of the Mengzhou spacecraft is scheduled for 2026. Mengzhou will eventually replace the older Shenzhou line and serve as the vehicle that carries Chinese astronauts to the lunar surface. By 2035, China intends to complete the first phase of a crewed scientific base on the Moon, which it calls the International Lunar Research Station.
This acceleration reflects three decades of sustained investment. China has poured billions into its space program to close the gap with the United States, Russia, and Europe. The country landed an uncrewed probe on the far side of the Moon in 2019—a first for any nation—and placed a rover on Mars in 2021. These were not accidents or lucky breaks. They were the products of deliberate strategy and enormous resources.
The backdrop matters too. The United States formally excluded China from the International Space Station in 2011, when Congress prohibited NASA from collaborating with Beijing. Rather than accept that isolation, China built its own station. Tiangong is the result—a working orbital laboratory that has become the centerpiece of Chinese space ambitions. The exclusion, in other words, accelerated rather than hindered Chinese progress.
As Shenzhou-23 settled into orbit, Beijing also announced plans to welcome its first foreign astronaut to Tiangong before the end of the year—a visitor from Pakistan. It is a small gesture, but a deliberate one. While the United States and its allies have built their space partnerships around exclusion, China is building theirs around inclusion. The year-long mission now underway will tell us whether that strategy is working.
Notable Quotes
A year in orbit leads both equipment and humans to a different operational regime compared to shorter Shenzhou missions from earlier program phases— Richard de Grijs, astrophysicist at Macquarie University
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that one astronaut stays for a full year instead of six months? Isn't that just a longer rotation?
It's not about the duration itself—it's about what the body learns. Bone density, muscle loss, radiation effects—these don't follow a linear curve. Six months teaches you one thing. A year teaches you something entirely different. China needs to know if humans can survive the journey to the Moon and still function when they get there.
And they're doing this now because they're racing against NASA's Artemis program?
Partly, yes. But it's also because they've been locked out of the International Space Station since 2011. That forced them to build Tiangong. Now they're using it as a testing ground for everything they'll need on the Moon.
The first Hong Kong astronaut—is that symbolic, or does it matter operationally?
It's both. Operationally, you want the best people, and Lai Ka-ying is qualified. But symbolically, it sends a message: this is a Chinese program, and Hong Kong is part of China. It's the kind of detail Beijing doesn't include by accident.
What happens if the year-long mission goes badly? If the astronaut comes back injured or unable to work?
Then China learns what it needs to learn, and it adjusts. That's what long-duration spaceflight is for—to find the breaking points before you're committed to a lunar mission. The risk is real, but so is the necessity.
Do you think they'll actually land on the Moon by 2030?
They're building the hardware, testing the procedures, gathering the data. Whether they make 2030 exactly—that depends on engineering and luck. But they're clearly serious about getting there before the decade ends.