China, HK pride as Shenzhou-23 blasts off
The Shenzhou-23 spacecraft – carrying a three-member crew including Hong Kong's first astronaut Lai Ki-ying – blasted off on Sunday evening, opening yet another chapter in China's space programme. The China Manned Space Agency described the launch as a complete success. Lai is joining fellow astronauts Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan in the country's latest crewed space mission. The spacecraft was launched at 11.08pm as scheduled, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket. Zhu heads the Shenzhou-23 mission and is the country's first spaceflight engineer to serve as commander. He previously took part in the Shenzhou-16 mission. Zhang is a spacecraft pilot and Lai is a payload specialist, and both are on their first space mission. Lai made history as the first astronaut from Hong Kong to travel to space. She's also the country's fourth female astronaut to reach space. The three-member crew are heading to the Tiangong Space Station and will complete an in-orbit handover with the Shenzhou-21 crew, who will then return to Earth. (Additional reporting by Xinhua) _____________________________ Last updated: 2026-05-24 HKT 23:35 Edited by Edmond Fong