Xinhua Fresh Report | Shenzhou-23's "Space Commute" Gets New Upgrades
Shenzhou-23's "Space Commute" Gets New Upgrades
Xinhua News Agency reporters Gu Tiancheng and Wen Jinghua
At 23:08 on May 24, the Long March-2F Yao-23 carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft, ignited and lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft successfully docked with the radial port of the space station's Tianhe core module at 02:45 on May 25.
This is the first crewed launch mission of China's crewed spaceflight program in the opening year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. What new upgrades does the Shenzhou spacecraft bring to its renewed "space commute"?
Spacecraft: Payload Space Three Times That of Before
The rendezvous and docking of the Shenzhou spacecraft with the space station has been hailed as the "kiss in space," with precision requirements likened to "threading a needle across ten thousand li."
For this mission, Shenzhou-23 completed a 3.5-hour radial rapid rendezvous and docking. "This places extremely high demands on the docking mechanism," said a responsible official from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Academy of Space Technology (Institute Eight).
It was introduced that the new domestically developed docking mechanism docking buffer test bench has five degrees of freedom, enabling flexible adjustment of position and attitude angle during docking, and can precisely control motion condition deviations to within 0.1 degrees.
Regarding the spacecraft's portholes, the team from CASC's China Academy of Space Technology (Institute Five) increased the ablation-resistant glass layers in Shenzhou-23's new portholes to two, and added an additional layer of interior cabin protection, giving the portholes a total of three layers of ablation-resistant capability, substantially enhancing protection against space debris impacts.
The spacecraft's instrument system has also been upgraded, with a refined reconstruction of the return capsule's interior layout and iterative miniaturization of the instrument panel. This not only optimizes the human-machine interaction experience but also allows the cabin's valuable payload resources to be released more efficiently.
"In the past, upon return, only about 50 kilograms of payload could be carried, selecting only the best of the best," the Institute Five Shenzhou team explained. Now the spacecraft's downlink capacity can exceed 100 kilograms, and the payload space is three times what it was before.
The "Divine Arrow": Safe, Reliable, and Rolling Backup
The Long March-2F carrier rocket executing this launch mission is the only currently active carrier rocket in China tasked with crewed missions, and enjoys the reputation of "Divine Arrow" (神箭).
As a crewed rocket, the Long March-2F carrier rocket strives with every mission toward the goal of being ever safer and more reliable.
A responsible official from CASC's China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (Institute One) introduced that, compared with the Yao-22 rocket, the Long March-2F Yao-23 carrier rocket underwent 16 technical configuration improvements, continuously consolidating the safety and reliability foundation of the crewed rocket.
This mission marks the Long March-2F carrier rocket's return to crewed launch duties following its execution of the first emergency launch mission in China's crewed spaceflight program in November 2025.
Since China's space station construction mission commenced, the Long March-2F carrier rocket has adopted a launch mode of "launch one, back up one" and "rolling backup," building a solid line of defense for the life safety of astronauts.
The responsible official also stated that in the future, the development team will actively apply digital means to continuously improve launch and testing efficiency and quality control levels, providing solid support for deepening the application and development of the space station.
Providing Astronauts with the Most Reassuring Protection
In this mission, one astronaut will conduct a year-long on-orbit residence experiment, which is not only a challenge to the physiological limits of human beings, but also a full-pressure test of the China Space Station's comprehensive support capabilities.
How can the most reassuring protection be provided for the astronauts?
On the ground, a flight control team stands by around the clock on a "365 days × 24 hours" basis. In addition, relying on the "digital space station" (数字空间站) twin system, the ground team is able to eliminate hidden dangers through simulation drills before faults occur, refining and optimizing tens of thousands of risk contingency plans to make full preparations for possible emergencies.
In terms of life support, the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft, launched not long ago, has already delivered to space the supplies needed for long-term residence, including diversified space food, new core muscle exercise devices, and an upgraded extravehicular spacesuit. Its docking duration has been extended to 12 months, substantially enhancing the space station's autonomous operational capability.
The "Divine Arrow" (神箭) reaches toward the heavens; the "Divine Vessel" (神舟) explores the highest skies. From the millimeter-level precision of accurate docking to the stable escort of energy systems, generation after generation of space workers have passed on the torch and dared to be the first, lifting up the hard-core strength (硬核实力) of China's space program.
(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 25)