Colonel Zhu Yangzhu, 39, a native of Jiangsu province, was recruited by the PLA in September 2005 and studied 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-generation astronauts. He is among seven astronauts trained as the country'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 and made his first spacewalk in July that year.

In April 2024, he was awarded the honorary title of "Heroic Astronaut" and received a third-class Space Service Medal.

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

Colonel Zhang Zhiyuan, 39, a native of Gansu province, joined the PLA Air Force in September 2006 to study flying at the Aviation University of the Air Force. He later served as a first-class pilot in an Air Force unit and was selected as part of the third group of astronauts at the PLA Astronaut Division in September 2020.

Zhang is now a third-class astronaut at the division. He is the 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 with 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 Force in 2012.

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