SHENZHOU-21 MISSION ASTRONAUTS RETURN HOME – Chinese Astronaut Zhang Hongzhang exits return capsule
Chinese astronaut Zhang Hongzhang, one of the three crew members of the Shenzhou-21 mission, has left the return capsule which landed back on Earth on Friday.
Zhang was the third and final crew member to emerge after the Shenzhou-22 return capsule touched down at the Dongfeng Landing Site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 20:11 Beijing Time (1211 GMT), according to the China Manned Space Agency.
Prior to the return, the crew completed all planned tasks and handed over China’s Tiangong space station to the three Shenzhou-23 astronauts who boarded the space station on Monday.
The crew’s planned stay in-orbit was extended by approximately one month to further verify the technologies regarding the long-term stay of astronauts in orbit and fully use the supplies delivered by the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft in an emergency launch.
The Shenzhou-21 crew’s original spaceship, which sent them into space on October 31 last year, previously returned to Earth carrying the astronauts of the preceding Shenzhou-20 mission after tiny cracks were found in the viewport window of the Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft’s return capsule. That spacecraft was later safely brought back to Earth.
