Profiles of Shenzhou XXIII crew

Colonel Zhu Yangzhu, 39, a native of Jiangsu province, was recruited by the People's Liberation Army in September 2005 to study at the National University of Defense Technology.

He was an associate professor at the Space Engineering University under the PLA Space Force until October 2020, when he joined the PLA Astronaut Division as one of China's third batch of astronauts. He is one of the seven astronauts trained as the nation's first spaceflight engineers and the first of them to reach orbit.

In May 2023, Zhu took part in the five-month Shenzhou XVI mission. He made his first spacewalk in July that year.

In April 2024, he was given the honorary title "Heroic Astronaut" and received a Third-grade Space Service Medal.

Zhu is now a third-grade astronaut at the PLA Astronaut Division. He is Shenzhou XXIII's mission commander and the first from the third batch of astronauts to lead a crew.

Colonel Zhang Zhiyuan, 39, a native of Gansu province, joined the PLA Air Force in September 2006 to learn flying at the Aviation University of Air Force. He was a first-grade pilot at an Air Force fighter jet unit and was selected into the third batch of astronauts at the PLA Astronaut Division in September 2020.

Zhang is now a third-grade astronaut at the division. He is spacecraft pilot of the Shenzhou XXIII mission.

Lai Ka-ying, 43, a resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a superintendent and technical specialist of the Hong Kong Police Force. She graduated from The University of Hong Kong in 2011 with a doctoral degree in computer science, and joined the Hong Kong police in 2012.

Lai was selected as one of the country's fourth batch of astronauts in June 2024, becoming the first astronaut from Hong Kong. She is payload specialist of the Shenzhou XXIII mission.