China launches three-astronaut rocket into space as new lunar race intensifies

China has launched the Shenzhou 23 rocket into space carrying three astronauts, in a mission that will take Beijing closer to its ambition for a moon landing in 2030.

The spacecraft took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sunday, watched on by jubilant crowds waving the national flag.

The crew will conduct dozens of science projects and complete an in-orbit rotation - turning the spacecraft on its own axis while it travels around Earth - with the crew of Shenzhou 21, who have been at the Tiangong space station for more than 200 days.

One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year, in what would be among the world's longest single stays in space.

The extended stay is for the purpose of exploring "human adaptability and performance limits" in space, state media reported, but it will be decided later which astronaut will be staying on.

A Russian astronaut holds the record after spending 14 and a half months in space in 1995.

The launch comes after the US launched its Artemis II mission in April, which saw astronauts circumvent the moon in the Orion spacecraft.

NASA plans to execute the first human moon landing since 1972 in the Artemis IV mission in 2028, as part of a push to establish a lunar base from which to reach Mars.

The US is seen as China's top space rival, with Beijing stepping up its space program in recent years by carrying out almost a dozen missions to its space station since 2021.

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China developed the Tiangong space station, which means "heavenly palace", after the country was effectively barred from the International Space Station over US concerns about national security.

The US has warned that China plans ​to colonise and mine lunar territory and resources, claims that Beijing has strongly denied.

The astronauts on the Shenzhou mission, which translates as "divine vessel", are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who has also been identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying, using the Mandarin version of her name.

Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

With less than four years until its 2030 deadline to complete a moon landing, China faces the significant challenge of developing entirely new hardware and software specific to its lunar mission.

(c) Sky News 2026: China launches three-astronaut rocket into space as new lunar race intensifies