The trio from the Chinese astronaut mission “Shenzhou 21”returned to Earth last Friday (29). They left China’s Tiangong space station, landing safely at the Dongfeng Landing Center in Inner Mongolia. A problem with a crack in the capsule delayed the return of the crew.
The astronauts were in orbit for 210 days — a new record for a Chinese manned mission —, and returned in a different spacecraft than the one that took them to space.
Images provided by the China Space Administration (CNSA) to CNN Brazilshow the return of the crew. Check it out below:
According to a release, mission commanders Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, were launched towards Tiangong on October 31 last year to replace the Shenzhou 20 crew.
The Shenzhou 20 astronauts were scheduled to return to Earth on November 5, but pre-departure inspections revealed a crack in the capsule’s window, likely caused by the impact of space debris.
Chinese space authorities considered it too risky to bring astronauts back to Earth in the damaged spacecraft, so on November 14, returned to Earth aboard the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, leaving the newly arrived astronauts “isolated” in Tiangong.
On November 24th, China accelerated Shenzhou 22’s journey to the platform, launching the spacecraft towards Tiangong without anyone on board. That was the spaceship that brought Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang back to Earth.
in turn, returned to Earth on January 21, without any astronauts on board.
Schenzhou 21
Shenzhou 21 was the second spaceflight for Zhang Lu, who previously participated in the Shenzhou 15 mission to Tiangong in 2022. This was the first mission for both Zhang Hongzhan and 32-year-old Wu Fei. the youngest Chinese astronaut to go to space.
The 21 Shenzhou astronauts performed three spacewalks during their long stay in space.
The Shenzhou 21 crew were replaced by the three astronauts from which was launched towards Tiangong on May 24th. The crew consists of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying — the first Hong Kong astronaut to reach space.
One of the three astronauts will spend an entire year aboard Tiangong, another unprecedented feat for the Chinese space program. Chinese authorities They have not yet revealed which astronaut will be chosen.
