 Launch of Shenzhou 16 on aLong March 2F | |
| Mission type | Tiangong space station crew transport |
|---|---|
| Operator | China Manned Space Agency |
| COSPAR ID | 2023-077A |
| SATCATno. | 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 withTiangong 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 |
 Mission patch  Gui Haichao,Jing Haipeng andZhu Yangzhu | |
Shenzhou 16 (Chinese:神舟十六号;pinyin:Shénzhōu Shíliù-hào;lit. 'Divine Boat Number 16') was a Chinese spaceflight to theTiangong space station, launched on 30 May 2023. It carried twoPeople's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC)taikonauts and apayload specialist fromBeihang University on board aShenzhou spacecraft. The mission was the eleventh crewed Chinese spaceflight and the sixteenth flight overall of theShenzhou program.
Shenzhou 16 was the fifth spaceflight to theTiangong 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 theShenzhou 15 crew.[1]
The flight launched fromJiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 30 May 2023 at 9:31 AMChina Standard Time (01:31 UTC), following the launch of theTianzhou 6 cargo spacecraft and near the end of theShenzhou 15 mission.[2] Just under 7 hours after launch, the spacecraft docked with theTianhe 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]
On 20 July 2023, the first scheduled spacewalk of Shenzhou 16 was carried out by Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu through the airlock of theWentian lab module (Zhu Yangzhu being the first Chinese flight engineer to perform a spacewalk), with Gui Haichao assisting the pair from inside theTianhe core module. The crew completed a variety of tasks, including the installation and lifting of the support frame for a panoramic camera outside Tiangong'sTianhe core module and unlocking and lifting two panoramic cameras outside theMengtian 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]
Shenzhou 16 returned to Earth on October 30, 2023, landing at the Dongfeng landing site in theGobi Desert inInner 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]
| Position | Crew member | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Jing Haipeng,PLAACCMSAFourth spaceflight | |
| Flight engineer | Zhu Yangzhu, PLAAC CMSA First spaceflight | |
| Payload specialist | Gui Haichao, CMSA First spaceflight | |
Shenzhou 16 marked CommanderJing Haipeng's fourth trip to space, a new record for a Chinese taikonaut.Payload specialistGui Haichao, a professor atBeihang University, became the first Chinese civilian in space.[7] Gui Haichao and Zhu Yangzhu were also the first members ofChinese Group 3 to fly to space.
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