First Hong Kong astronaut launches into space onboard Chinese mission
Summary
Li Jiaying, a 43-year-old police officer from Hong Kong, became the first astronaut from Hong Kong to go to space. She and two other Chinese astronauts launched aboard Shenzhou-23 and docked at China’s Tiangong space station, where one crew member will spend a year in orbit studying the effects of microgravity on the human body.Key Facts
- Li Jiaying is Hong Kong’s first astronaut in space and serves as the payload scientist on the mission.
- The crew includes two other astronauts: Zhu Yangzhu, a space engineer, and Zhang Zhiyuan, a former air force pilot.
- The Shenzhou-23 launched from the Gobi desert and docked at the Tiangong space station in China.
- One crew member will stay in space for a full year to help study how the body reacts to long stays in microgravity.
- China aims to send humans to the moon by 2030 and is competing with the US, which plans a crewed moon landing by 2028.
- China has been conducting six-month space station stays since 2021 and is expanding its expertise for longer missions.
- China’s recent space activities include the Chang’e-6 mission that brought back moon rock samples and plans for future moon missions with the Mengzhou spacecraft.
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