On May 24, China launched the Shenzhou-23 mission to the Tiangong space station atop a Long March 2F rocket, kicking off a yearlong stay in space for one crew member. The mission will act as a critical stepping stone toward China's goal of a moon landing in 2030, and is packed with scientific studies on long-term spaceflight and its effects on the human body. China's push for a moon landing has piqued the interest of NASA, which now finds itself in a modern-day race to the moon. NASA intends to land astronauts on the moon by 2028, but recent delays with its commercially supplied moon landers have cast doubts on this.
The Shenzhou-23 mission replaced the crew of Shenzhou-21, who had an extended stay following the discovery of a small crack in the window of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft. The Shenzhou-20 crew returned to Earth on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft, leaving the latter crew without a lifeboat, should the Tiangong space station have been compromised in some way. The crew had to wait for the arrival of an uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft, which eventually took them back to Earth in May 2026.
Mission science will focus on biology and long-duration spaceflight
The Shenzhou-23 mission will build on science experiments conducted on the Shenzhou-21 mission, focusing on biology and research into the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. Shenzhou-23 will include embryonic research, using zebrafish and mouse embryos, as well as advanced material research focused on the production of high-performance rare-earth magnets. The taikonauts (China's version of astronauts) will also conduct experiments on high-entropy alloys, and their potential use on spacecraft in low Earth orbit. These alloys offer remarkable damage tolerance and could offer greater protection from the harsh conditions of space and the ever-present danger of micrometeoroid and space debris strikes.
One of the Shenzhou-23 taikonauts will remain on the station for a yearlong mission, designed to advance China's understanding of human physiology in zero gravity. The mission aims to establish a multi-system atlas of the human body in space, documenting its response to this unique environment. This will be China's longest human spaceflight to date, and will explore similar outcomes seen on Scott Kelly's mission on the International Space Station from 2015 to 2016.
Kelly's yearlong mission was a one-of-a-kind research opportunity that compared the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body to a genetically identical control back on Earth. Scott Kelly and his identical twin brother, Mark, were both astronauts, and provided the basis for the experiment. Some of the key findings of this mission were that Kelly's cognitive functions remained largely unchanged, that he suffered from degraded vision, and that his body reacted normally to a flu vaccine in space. While degraded vision in space is a well-documented problem, the confirmations of cognitive ability and appropriate response to vaccines bode well for future missions to Mars.
China is racing to a moon landing by 2030
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The recent Shenzhou missions are paving the way for China to reach the moon by 2030, and the China Manned Space Agency has already been testing hardware for these landing attempts. The spacecraft intended to fly taikonauts to the moon will be based on the seven-seat-capable Mengzhou spacecraft, and will be launched with China's all-new Long March 10 rocket. The rocket conducted successful static-fire tests at the Wenchang spacecraft launch site in Hainan Province in late 2025.
China's Lanyue lunar lander, which entered testing in 2024, bears a striking resemblance to the classic Apollo-era lunar landers. The lander will be capable of carrying two taikonauts and a lunar rover to the surface. China intends to make iterative steps toward a lunar landing, planning the launch of a robotic Mengzhou flight later this year, an autonomous test of the Lanyue lander in 2027, and joint test missions slated for 2028 and 2029, before an eventual crewed landing attempt in 2030.
While moon landings are a near-term focus, they form part of China's plans for a moon base called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). According to the Chinese State Council, the country plans to build a basic station near the lunar south pole region by 2035, with a second phase expansion of the station already planned for completion by 2045.