JIUQUAN - China launched the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship tonight, sending three astronauts to its orbiting Tiangong space station.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on schedule at 11:08 p.m.
The Shenzhou-23 crew consists of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, along with astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Li Jiaying, or Lai Ka-ying in Cantonese. The three astronauts are, respectively, a flight engineer, a spacecraft pilot, and a payload specialist.
Zhu once participated in the Shenzhou-16 space mission. Zhang and Li come from the third and fourth batches of astronauts, respectively, and this is their first spaceflight mission. Before being selected, Zhang was an air force pilot, and Li worked in the Hong Kong Police Force.
Li has made history as the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to travel to space, and she is also the country's fourth female astronaut to reach space, following in the footsteps of Liu Yang, Wang Yaping and Wang Haoze.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m. today an official of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) declared the launch of the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship "a complete success".
- Xinhua, MPD
Caption: The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China last night. China launched the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship on schedule at 11:08 p.m., sending three astronauts to its orbiting Tiangong space station, including China's first astronaut from its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). – Xinhua
