Image: China News Service (CC BY 4.0)
Shenzhou 12
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2021-06-17 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, LA-4/SLS-1, China |
| Launch vehicle | Long March 2F/G (Y12) |
| Spacecraft | Shenzhou 12 |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2021-09-17 |
| Recovery | Dongfeng landing site, Inner Mongolia, China |
| Duration | 92 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes |
| Partners | China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) |
Overview
Shenzhou 12 opened the crewed era of China's Tiangong space station. Lifting off atop a Long March 2F/G from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 17 June 2021 at 01:22 UTC, veteran commander Nie Haisheng, Shenzhou 7 spacewalker Liu Boming and first-time flyer Tang Hongbo docked with the Tianhe core module about six and a half hours later, becoming the station's first residents — and the first Chinese astronauts in orbit since Shenzhou 11 in 2016. Over three months the crew commissioned Tianhe's regenerative life-support system, exercised the station's roughly 10-metre robotic arm and staged China's first spacewalks since 2008: a roughly seven-hour excursion by Liu and Tang on 4 July 2021 to raise a panoramic camera and fit equipment to the arm, followed by a second EVA by Nie and Liu on 20 August. After undocking on 16 September, the spacecraft performed a radial-rendezvous test to validate the approach Shenzhou 13 would fly, then landed at the Dongfeng site in the Gobi Desert on 17 September 2021 at 05:34 UTC — the first crewed touchdown there. The 92-day flight nearly tripled China's previous human-spaceflight endurance record of 33 days, set by Shenzhou 11, and proved Tiangong ready for long-duration habitation.
Crew
Nie Haisheng
Commander
Third spaceflight, after Shenzhou 6 and Shenzhou 10
Liu Boming
Operator
Second spaceflight; took part in China's first EVA mission, Shenzhou 7
Tang Hongbo
Operator
First spaceflight; first member of China's third astronaut group... selected in 2010, to reach orbit
Key Milestones
2021-06-17
Launch from Jiuquan at 01:22 UTC; docking with the Tianhe core module about 6.5 hours later
2021-07-04
First spacewalk of the Tiangong era — Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo spend roughly seven hours outside Tianhe
2021-08-20
Second EVA by Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming to install external equipment on the core module
2021-09-16
Undocking from Tianhe followed by a radial-rendezvous test for future missions
2021-09-17
Landing at the Dongfeng site at 05:34 UTC — a new Chinese spaceflight-duration record of 92 days
Key Achievements
First crewed mission to China's Tiangong space station and first occupation of the Tianhe core module
China's first spacewalks since Shenzhou 7 in 2008, including a roughly seven-hour EVA on 4 July 2021
Set a new Chinese human-spaceflight endurance record of 92 days, nearly tripling Shenzhou 11's 33 days
First crewed landing at the Dongfeng site, which became the recovery zone for all subsequent Tiangong crews
Validated Tianhe's regenerative life-support system and robotic arm for long-duration operations
Legacy & Significance
Shenzhou 12 transformed China from a nation that had flown six short crewed missions into a space-station operator. Every system that defines the Tiangong era — the regenerative life support, the robotic arm, the EVA suits and airlock procedures, the Dongfeng recovery zone — was proven in flight by Nie Haisheng's crew. The mission ended a five-year gap in Chinese human spaceflight and began an unbroken chain of station expeditions that continues today, making it the Tiangong program's equivalent of Expedition 1 on the ISS.
