By 
November 1st, 2025
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-21 crew is now onboard the country’s orbital outpost, the Tiangong space station.
The Shenzhou-21 spaceship successfully docked early November 1 with the front port of the Tianhe core module, a docking process that took about 3.5 hours.
That fast-paced launch-to-docking time set a new record for the most rapid rendezvous and docking between a Shenzhou spacecraft and the space station, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
An in-orbit crew handover from the Shenzhou-20 crew with the newcomers has begun.
Image credit: CMSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
New faces
Chen Dong, commander of the Shenzhou-20 mission, said: “Since you are the new faces here, everything is fresh and exciting, and from this moment on you are embarking on a brand new journey of space exploration.”
The Shenzhou-21 crew consists of mission commander Zhang Lu, who was previously a member of the Shenzhou-15 mission, alongside flight engineer Wu Fei and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, each embarking on their first spaceflight mission.
Handover work
The six space travelers will live and work together for about five days to complete planned tasks and handover work, the CMSA said.
At that point, the Shenzhou-20 crew — Chen Dong, along with Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — will depart the station and head back to Earth after their six-month journey.
Go to these new videos highlighting the liftoff and docking of the Shenzhou-21 at:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/4019423761689879
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1247595994052395
Posted in Space News
