Beijing [China], May 25: China sent three astronauts to its space station on Sunday, one of whom will stay for a year, a record length for the country, enabling the study of long-duration human physiology in space as Beijing works towards its ambition of a crewed moon by 2030.
The Shenzhou-23 vessel launched at 11:08 p.m. (1508 GMT) using the Long March-2F Y23 carrier rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, with three Chinese astronauts on board.
Payload specialist Li Jiaying, a former Hong Kong police inspector, is the first astronaut from the city to take part in a Chinese space mission. The other crew members are commander Zhu Yangzhu and pilot Zhang Yuanzhi, both from the People's Liberation Army's astronaut division.
CHINA, US SET SIGHTS ON MOON
One of the three is to stay on the Tiangong space station for a year, one of the longest space missions ever but short of the 14-1/2-month record set by a Russian cosmonaut in 1995. That astronaut will be decided later, depending on the progress of the mission, the China Manned Space Agency said on Saturday.
China has sent astronauts to its space station almost a dozen times, but this launch comes amid an accelerating race to the moon with the U.S., which has warned about what it alleges are Beijing's plans to colonise and mine lunar territory and resources.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
