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.