China is sending an astronaut to its space station for a year, enabling the study of long-duration human physiology in space as Beijing works towards its ambition of a crewed moon landing by 2030.
The Shenzhou-23 vessel is scheduled to launch at 11:08pm (1:08am Monday AEST) 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, will be 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.
