Image: ForrestXYC via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Shenzhou 13
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2021-10-15 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, LA-4/SLS-1, China |
| Launch vehicle | Long March 2F/G (Y13) |
| Spacecraft | Shenzhou 13 |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2022-04-16 |
| Recovery | Dongfeng landing site, Inner Mongolia, China |
| Duration | 182 days, 9 hours, 32 minutes |
| Partners | China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) |
Overview
Shenzhou 13 stretched Chinese spaceflight to the six-month expedition standard. Launching from Jiuquan at 16:23 UTC on 15 October 2021 (00:23 on 16 October Beijing time), commander Zhai Zhigang — China's first spacewalker — flew with Wang Yaping and rookie Ye Guangfu, performing the program's first radial docking beneath the Tianhe core module about 6.5 hours after liftoff. On 7 November 2021, Wang Yaping stepped outside with Zhai and became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, helping install a robotic-arm extension fitting during a roughly 6.5-hour EVA; Zhai and Ye conducted a second spacewalk on 26 December. The crew also turned Tiangong into a national classroom, broadcasting live 'Tiangong Classroom' science lessons to millions of students on 9 December 2021 and 23 March 2022, reviving the lecture format Wang had pioneered aboard Tiangong-1 in 2013. Departing on 15 April 2022, the crew flew China's first 'rapid return', compressing the descent timeline to roughly nine hours before landing at Dongfeng at 01:56 UTC on 16 April. At 182 days, Shenzhou 13 doubled the national duration record set by Shenzhou 12 and locked in the six-month crew-rotation cadence Tiangong has followed ever since.
Crew
Zhai Zhigang
Commander
Second spaceflight; performed China's first spacewalk on Shenzhou 7 in 2008
Wang Yaping
Operator
Second spaceflight after Shenzhou 10; first Chinese woman to perform an EVA and first aboard Tiangong
Ye Guangfu
Operator
First spaceflight; second astronaut group, later commanded Shenzhou 18
Key Milestones
2021-10-15
Launch at 16:23 UTC (00:23 Beijing time, 16 October); first radial docking with the Tianhe core module
2021-11-07
Wang Yaping becomes the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk, alongside Zhai Zhigang
2021-12-09
First 'Tiangong Classroom' lecture broadcast live to students across China
2021-12-26
Second EVA of the mission, by Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu
2022-03-23
Second Tiangong Classroom science lecture from orbit
2022-04-16
First Chinese 'rapid return' reentry; landing at Dongfeng at 01:56 UTC after 182 days
Key Achievements
China's first six-month crewed spaceflight, doubling the national record to 182 days
Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk (7 November 2021) and the first aboard Tiangong
First radial (nadir-port) docking of a crewed Shenzhou spacecraft with Tianhe
Inaugurated the 'Tiangong Classroom' live science lectures watched by millions of students
First Chinese crewed 'rapid return', cutting the reentry timeline to about nine hours
Legacy & Significance
Shenzhou 13 normalized the six-month expedition that remains the backbone of Tiangong operations, and it carried outsized cultural weight: Wang Yaping's spacewalk shattered a symbolic ceiling for Chinese women in spaceflight, and the Tiangong Classroom lectures turned the station into a public-education platform reaching tens of millions of schoolchildren. Operationally, its radial docking and rapid-return demonstrations completed the rendezvous-and-recovery toolkit that every later Shenzhou crew has relied on.
