Hong Kong Makes History as First Local Astronaut Blasts Off on Chinese Space Mission

Hong Kong's First Astronaut Reaches the Stars

History was made when Li Jiaying, a 43-year-old police officer and mother of three from Hong Kong, launched into space as part of China's Shenzhou-23 mission. Serving as the crew's payload scientist, Li joined two fellow astronauts aboard the spacecraft, which successfully docked with China's Tiangong space station late Sunday evening.

A Milestone for Hong Kong and China's Space Ambitions

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee described Li's participation in the mission as a defining "historic" moment for the city. Li herself credited Chinese space pioneer Yang Liwei — the first person launched into orbit under China's space program — as a source of personal inspiration.

"This is a rare chance. Why not try?" Li told Xinhua news agency ahead of the launch.

The rocket lifted off from the Gobi Desert in northwestern China at 23:08 local time (15:08 GMT) Sunday, carried aloft by a Long March 2-F rocket. Enthusiastic crowds waved Chinese flags as the spacecraft ascended into the night sky.

Who Is on the Shenzhou-23 Crew?

Alongside Li, the three-person crew includes:

• Zhu Yangzhu, a 39-year-old space engineer
• Zhang Zhiyuan, a 39-year-old former air force pilot

Authorities have confirmed that at least one crew member will remain aboard Tiangong for a full year as part of a landmark long-duration experiment, though the specific individual has yet to be officially designated.

A Record-Breaking Stay in Orbit

The planned year-long mission would rank among the longest human stays in space ever recorded, falling just short of the 14-month benchmark set by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov back in 1995.

Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist and professor at Macquarie University in Australia, noted the significance of the extended mission duration.

"A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared with the shorter Shenzhou missions of the programme's earlier phases," de Grijs told AFP.

He added that the mission reflects China's growing capability in long-duration spaceflight and its broader ambitions in deep space exploration.

China's Race to the Moon

The Shenzhou-23 mission is a key component of China's wider space strategy, which includes a goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by 2030. This places China in direct competition with the United States, which is targeting its own crewed lunar landing by 2028.

Among the mission's primary scientific objectives is studying the effects of microgravity on the human body — research that will prove essential for future long-haul space travel.

China has been conducting regular six-month crew rotations to its Tiangong station since 2021, steadily building its spaceflight expertise. In 2024, the Chang'e-6 probe made headlines by successfully retrieving rock samples from the far side of the Moon — a world first. Looking ahead, China is preparing an orbital test flight for its Mengzhou spacecraft, a vessel specifically designed to transport astronauts to the lunar surface.