Image: China News Service (中国新闻社), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Shenzhou 17
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2023-10-26 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, LA-4/SLS-1 |
| Launch vehicle | Long March 2F/G (Y17) |
| Spacecraft | Shenzhou 17 |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2024-04-30 |
| Duration | 187 days 6 hours |
| Partners | China Manned Space Agency |
Overview
Shenzhou 17 carried the youngest crew to fly to Tiangong, led by veteran commander Tang Hongbo on his second spaceflight just over two years after Shenzhou 12 — China's fastest turnaround between an astronaut's missions. With him flew first-timers Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, both born in the 1990s, giving the crew an average age in the mid-thirties. The mission's defining work was unplanned repair: micrometeoroid and orbital-debris strikes had damaged Tianhe's solar arrays, and the crew performed the station's first external repair spacewalks to patch them. Across two EVAs totalling more than fifteen hours they tested techniques no Chinese crew had attempted in orbit. After a four-day handover from Shenzhou 16, the trio spent 187 days aloft before returning to the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia.
Crew
Tang Hongbo
Commander
Second spaceflight; fastest re-flight by a Chinese astronaut (after Shenzhou 12)
Tang Shengjie
Operator
First spaceflight
Jiang Xinlin
System Operator
First spaceflight
Key Milestones
2023-10-26
Launched from Jiuquan on Long March 2F/G (Y17) at 03:14 UTC
2023-10-26
Docked with the Tianhe forward port at 09:46 UTC and took handover from the Shenzhou 16 crew
2023-12-21
First EVA (7 h 25 m): Tiangong's first external repair spacewalk on debris-damaged solar arrays
2024-03-02
Second EVA (7 h 52 m) for further maintenance and inspection
2024-04-30
Undocked and landed at the Dongfeng site, Inner Mongolia, at 09:46 UTC
Key Achievements
Performed Tiangong's first external repair spacewalks on debris-damaged solar arrays
Youngest crew to fly to the Tiangong space station
Commander Tang Hongbo set the fastest re-flight interval for a Chinese astronaut
Two EVAs totalling more than 15 hours of repair and maintenance work
