At 23:44 Beijing time today, my country launched the Shenzhou 21 manned spacecraft using the Long March 2F Yao 21 carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.Shenzhou 21 carried Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongrenzhang to the space station for a stay mission of about 6 months.
Zhang Lu serves as the commander, and the three astronauts are aerospace pilots, flight engineers and payload experts, covering the three types of astronauts currently in service in my country.
It is understood that astronaut Zhang Lu has carried out the Shenzhou 15 manned mission. Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang are both from my country's third batch of astronauts and are flying on the mission for the first time.
Among them, Wu Fei was an engineer at the Space Technology Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation before being selected, and Zhang Hongzhang was a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences before being selected.
The main purpose of this mission is:
Completed on-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou 20 crew and stayed on the space station for about 6 months;
Carry out space science and application work, carry out astronaut extravehicular activities and cargo entry and exit;
Carry out tasks such as installation of space debris protection devices, installation and recovery of extravehicular loads and extravehicular facilities and equipment;
Carry out science education and public welfare activities, as well as space loading experiments, and continue to maximize the comprehensive application benefits of the space station.
According to the plan, after the Shenzhou 21 manned spacecraft enters orbit, it will adopt the autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking mode and dock at the forward port of the Tianhe core module in about 3.5 hours, forming a three-ship and three-cabin combination.
During their stay in orbit, the Shenzhou 21 astronaut crew will receive visits from the Tianzhou 10 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou 22 manned spacecraft.