China’s record-breaking, and really eventful, Shenzhou 21 astronaut mission has come to an finish.
The Shenzhou 21 trio returned to Earth at present (Could 29) from China’s Tiangong house station, touching down safely on the Dongfeng Touchdown Website in Interior Mongolia at 8:11 a.m. EDT (1211 GMT; 8:11 p.m. China Commonplace Time).
The three astronauts had been aloft for 210 days — a brand new report for a Chinese language crewed mission. They usually got here house in a distinct spacecraft than the one which carried them up, because of a barely scary orbital occasion.
The Shenzhou 21 astronauts — mission commander Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang — launched to Tiangong on Oct. 31 of final yr to alleviate the Shenzhou 20 crew.
The Shenzhou 20 astronauts had been supposed to move again to Earth on Nov. 5, but pre-departure inspections revealed a crack in the window of their capsule, which was presumably caused by a space debris strike.
Chinese space officials deemed it too risky to bring astronauts home in the damaged Shenzhou 20 vehicle. So, on Nov. 14, the Shenzhou 20 crew returned to Earth aboard the Shenzhou 21 vessel, leaving the newly arrived astronauts “stranded” on Tiangong.
That vulnerable condition didn’t last long, however. China fast-tracked Shenzhou 22’s trip to the pad, launching the spacecraft to Tiangong without anyone on board on Nov. 24. And that’s the vehicle that carried Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang home today.
The damaged Shenzhou 20 capsule, meanwhile, came back to Earth on Jan. 21, without any astronauts on board. The spacecraft survived the trip in one piece.
Shenzhou 21 was the second spaceflight for Zhang Lu, who previously flew on the Shenzhou 15 mission to Tiangong in 2022-2023. It was the first mission for both Zhang Hongzhang and the 32-year-old Wu Fei, the youngest Chinese astronaut ever to fly to space.
“This mission has taught me that the most beautiful form of youth is to answer the call of one’s country,” Wu said shortly after touchdown on Friday, according to CGTN.
The Shenzhou 21 astronauts carried out three spacewalks throughout their extra-long house keep. (Missions to Tiangong typically final about six months, or 180 days.) The trio “additionally accomplished quite a few scientific experiments in fields comparable to microgravity basic physics, house supplies science, house life science, aerospace drugs and house expertise,” CGTN wrote.
The Shenzhou 21 crewmates had been relieved by the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 23 mission, which launched to Tiangong on Could 24. (Shenzhou 22 was modified to an uncrewed flight, because of the Shenzhou 20 particles strike.)
The Shenzhou 23 crew consists of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying (the primary astronaut from Hong Kong to succeed in house). Certainly one of these three will spend a full yr aboard Tiangong — one other first for the Chinese language house program. Chinese language officers haven’t but revealed which astronaut will enter the historical past books.
