posted 05-24-2023 04:34 PM               

China prepares to launch Shenzhou 16 crew

The Shenzhou 16 spacecraft and its Long March-2F carrier rocket were transferred to the launch pad on Monday (May 22), the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

The facilities and equipment at the launch site are in good condition, and various pre-launch function checks and joint tests will be carried out as planned, said the CMSA. The Shenzhou 16 mission will be launched in the near future.

posted 05-29-2023 09:03 AM               

China unveils Shenzhou-16 crew, with diverse types of taikonauts to space station

Chinese taikonauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao will carry out the Shenzhou-16 spaceflight mission, and Jing will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced at a press conference on Monday (May 29).

Above: Chinese taikonauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao will carry out the Shenzhou-16 spaceflight mission.

Jing, a senior spacecraft pilot, will become the country's first taikonaut to go into space for the fourth time. He was involved in the Shenzhou-7 mission in 2008 and commanded the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-11 crews in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

Zhu and Gui are set to embark on their first trip to space. Born in 1986, they are members of China's third batch of taikonauts, whose selection was completed by September 2020.

Above: Jing Haipeng, one of the three taikonauts who will carry out the Shenzhou-16 spaceflight mission.

Zhu will serve as a spaceflight engineer in the Shenzhou-16 mission. He will work with commander Jing to control and manage the spacecraft, and conduct technical tests. Gui, a civilian taikonaut and a spectacled professor at Beijing-based Beihang University, will work as a payload expert responsible for the in-orbit operations of science experiment payloads in China's Tiangong space station.

Compared to previous crews, the Shenzhou-16 comprises a diverse trio of male astronauts from different career backgrounds, including aircraft pilot, flight engineer and payload specialist.

"This is the first crewed mission with the participation of three types of taikonauts," Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, said at the press conference.

Above: Zhu Yangzhu, one of the three taikonauts who will carry out the Shenzhou-16 spaceflight mission.

Although the fresh crew has a 20-year age gap, the three have worked together very well.

"We have gotten along like a family," said Jing when the trio met the press on Monday.

According to the CMSA, among China's third batch of taikonauts, seven are spacecraft pilots, seven are flight engineers and four are payload experts. After more than two years of rigorous training, they have become capable of performing spaceflight tasks.

"All of them have started targeted training for the space station in the new stage and will become the backbones of the follow-up missions," Lin said, adding that more new members will be selected to be space travelers in the future.

Above: Gui Haichao, one of the three taikonauts who will carry out the Shenzhou-16 spaceflight mission.

The Shenzhou-16 crewed spaceship will be launched at 9:31 a.m. Tuesday Beijing Time (9:31 p.m. EDT Monday or 0131 GMT Tuesday) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It will be the first crew mission after China's space station program entered the stage of application and development.

The three taikonauts will stay in orbit for about five months, Lin said.

posted 05-29-2023 08:55 PM               

China launches Shenzhou 16 crew on first post-assembly space station mission

China has launched three astronauts to its space station on the first mission since transitioning from assembly to utilization of the orbiting lab.

Veteran taikonaut Jing Haipeng and first-time fliers Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao lifted off aboard China's Shenzhou 16 spacecraft on Monday (May 29), bound for a five-month stay on board the Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace") space station. The crew launched atop a Launch March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 GMT or 9:31 a.m. Beijing time on Tuesday).

posted 05-30-2023 09:08 AM               

Shenzhou 16 crew docks at, enters space station

The three taikonauts aboard China's Shenzhou 16 spacecraft entered the country's space station and met with the Shenzhou 15 crew on Tuesday (May 30), starting a new round of in-orbit crew handover.

The Shenzhou 15 crew opened the hatch at 6:22 p.m. Beijing Time (6:22 a.m. EDT). The three space station occupants greeted the new arrivals, and they took group pictures.

The space get-together — the second such in-orbit crew rotation for China's space station — came after the Shenzhou 16 spacecraft autonomously docked to Tianhe, the station's core module, at 4:29 p.m. Beijing Time (4:29 a.m. EDT).

According to the China Manned Space Agency, the six astronauts will live and work together for about five days to complete planned tasks and handover work.

posted 07-20-2023 04:09 PM               

Shenzhou 16 Astronaut Crew Successfully Completed All Scheduled Tasks for Extravehicular Activities

At 21:40 on July 20, 2023, Beijing time [1340 GMT or 8:40 a.m. EDT] after about 8 hours of extravehicular activities, Shenzhou 16 astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao worked closely together, and with the support of the space station's robotic arm, they successfully completed all the scheduled tasks for the extravehicular activities. Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu have safely returned to the Wentian experimental module of the space station.

During the astronauts' extravehicular activities, the installation and lifting of the in-orbit support for the panoramic camera B of the core module, and the unlocking and lifting of the panoramic cameras A and B of the Shenzhou capsule were completed. The whole process went smoothly and successfully. Astronaut Jing Haipeng, who has flown for four times, cooperated from the cabin of Shenzhou to this extravehicular activity. With 15 years of perseverance, he realized the dream of "spacewalking."

According to the plan, in the future, the astronaut crew will also carry out a large number of space science experiments (tests), and participate in the completion of multiple application load extravehicular installation tasks.

posted 10-30-2023 10:02 AM               

Shenzhou-16 separates from space station

China's Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship separated from the space station combination at at 8:37 p.m. on Monday (Oct. 30, Beijing time [8:37 a.m. EDT or 1237 GMT), and the astronauts aboard — Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao — will soon start their journey home, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The Shenzhou-16 taikonauts handed over control of the Tiangong space station to the newly arrived Shenzhou-17 crew on Sunday. The two crews held a handover ceremony after the Shenzhou-16 taikonauts had completed all set tasks.

The Dongfeng Landing Site, located in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is preparing for the return of Shenzhou-16 from space. This will be the fifth mission the landing site has conducted to recover a manned spacecraft and the crew. Ground personnel have undergone various search and rescue exercises for the upcoming mission.

posted 10-30-2023 07:28 PM               

Shenzhou-16 return capsule touches down on Earth

The Shenzhou-16 astronauts are in good health condition and the Shenzhou-16 manned mission is a success, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship, carrying astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 8:11 a.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 31, Beijing Time; 8:11 p.m. EDT on Oct. 30 or 0011 GMT Oct. 31).