Shenzhou 16 (Chinese: 神舟十六号; pinyin: Shénzhōu Shíliù-hào; lit. 'Divine Boat Number 16') was a Chinese spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, launched on 30 May 2023. It carried two People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts and a payload specialist from Beihang University on board a Shenzhou spacecraft. The mission was the eleventh crewed Chinese spaceflight and the sixteenth flight overall of the Shenzhou program.
 Launch of Shenzhou 16 on a Long March 2F | |
| Mission type | Tiangong space station crew transport |
|---|---|
| Operator | China Manned Space Agency |
| COSPAR ID | 2023-077A |
| SATCAT no. | 56761 |
| Mission duration | 153 days, 22 hours and 41 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Shenzhou |
| Manufacturer | China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members | Jing Haipeng Zhu Yangzhu Gui Haichao |
| EVAs | 1 |
| EVA duration | 7 hours 55 minutes |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 30 May 2023, 01:31 UTC |
| Rocket | Long March 2F |
| Launch site | Jiuquan, LA-4/SLS |
| Contractor | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 31 October 2023, 00:12 UTC |
| Landing site | Inner Mongolia, China |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 41.5° |
| Docking with Tiangong space station | |
| Docking port | Tianhe nadir |
| Docking date | 30 May 2023, 08:29 UTC |
| Undocking date | 30 October 2023, 12:37 UTC |
| Time docked | 153 days, 4 hours and 8 minutes |
 Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu | |
Background
editShenzhou 16 was the fifth spaceflight to the Tiangong space station, with a mission duration of approximately five months.
The spacecraft completed construction and testing in December 2022, and prior to launch was maintained in a state of near-readiness if needed as a lifeboat for the Shenzhou 15 crew.[1]
Mission
editThe flight launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 30 May 2023 at 9:31 AM China Standard Time (01:31 UTC), following the launch of the Tianzhou 6 cargo spacecraft and near the end of the Shenzhou 15 mission.[2] Just under 7 hours after launch, the spacecraft docked with the Tianhe core module's nadir docking port.
Upon entering the station, the crew were greeted by and performed a handover ceremony with the crew of Shenzhou 15, with whom they would share a four-day mission overlap prior to the previous crew's departure on June 3.[3][4]
Spacewalk
editOn 20 July 2023, the first scheduled spacewalk of Shenzhou 16 was carried out by Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu through the airlock of the Wentian lab module (Zhu Yangzhu being the first Chinese flight engineer to perform a spacewalk), with Gui Haichao assisting the pair from inside the Tianhe core module. The crew completed a variety of tasks, including the installation and lifting of the support frame for a panoramic camera outside Tiangong's Tianhe core module and unlocking and lifting two panoramic cameras outside the Mengtian experiment module. The spacewalk lasted for 7 hours and 55 minutes, beating the previous EVA duration record of 7 hours and 6 minutes on Shenzhou 15.[5]
Return
editShenzhou 16 returned to Earth on October 30, 2023, landing at the Dongfeng landing site in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia. Footage of the landing showed an apparent hole in the descent parachute and the capsule tumbling on impact, but the crew was unharmed.[6]
Crew
edit| Position | Crew member | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Jing Haipeng, PLAAC CMSA Fourth spaceflight | |
| Flight engineer | Zhu Yangzhu, PLAAC CMSA First spaceflight | |
| Payload specialist | Gui Haichao, CMSA First spaceflight | |
Shenzhou 16 marked Commander Jing Haipeng's fourth trip to space, a new record for a Chinese taikonaut. Payload specialist Gui Haichao, a professor at Beihang University, became the first Chinese civilian in space.[7] Gui Haichao and Zhu Yangzhu were also the first members of Chinese Group 3 to fly to space.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Shenzhou-16 spacecraft put on standby for emergency missions, 3 December 2022, retrieved 2022-12-18
- ^ "2023年度载人航天任务基本情况" [Basic Situation of Manned Space Missions in 2023]. CMSA (in Chinese). 15 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ "China set to launch Shenzhou-15 spacecraft to its space station on Tuesday". Reuters. 2022-11-28. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
- ^ "Watch China's Shenzhou 16 astronauts enter Tiangong space station (Video)". Space.com. 30 May 2023.
- ^ "China's Shenzhou 16 astronauts complete 1st spacewalk (video)". Space. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
- ^ "China's Shenzhou 16 astronauts apparently landed with a ripped parachute (Photo)". Space.com. 2 November 2023.
- ^ "Update: China unveils Shenzhou-16 crew for space station mission-Xinhua".