Shenzhou-21 astronauts return to Earth after record 210-day mission

The three astronauts of China's Shenzhou-21 mission returned to Earth safely on Friday evening aboard the Shenzhou-22 crewed spaceship, wrapping up a 210-day stay in orbit that set a new record for the longest single-crew mission aboard China's space station, reported Xinhua. The trio consisting of Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang are all in good health, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), noting that the Shenzhou-21 spaceflight mission is a complete success. At 7:20 p.m. (Beijing Time), the Beijing Aerospace Control Center issued a return command via the ground station, and in response the orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-22 spaceship separated from the return capsule. The brake engine then ignited, and the return capsule separated from the propulsion capsule. The return capsule touched down at 8:11 p.m. at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the CMSA said, while by 8:59 p.m., the Shenzhou-21 crew had all left the return capsule. One person's voyage to the sea of stars rests on a whole team's absolute devotion and loyalty, said Zhang Lu, mission commander of the crew and a veteran astronaut on his second spaceflight, expressing his gratitude for the support of his family, all staff participating in the manned space program, and most importantly, the motherland and the Chinese people. Zhang Lu has completed a total of seven extravehicular activities (EVAs) so far, becoming the Chinese astronaut who has performed the most spacewalks to date. Ahead of China's National Science and Technology Workers Day on May 30, Zhang also brought a carefully preserved apple back to Earth as a tribute to all science and technology workers across the country. On the launch day of the Shenzhou-21 space mission, the ground support team gave us an apple to wish us a safe and smooth mission, he said. So when we departed the Tiangong space station, we deliberately brought an apple back to give to all sci-tech workers, and say to them: thank you for your tireless hard work. Wu, the spaceflight engineer of the crew, who completed three spacewalks during his 210-day maiden mission to the Chinese space station, is the youngest Chinese astronaut so far to carry out EVAs. Being entrusted with such an important responsibility on my first spaceflight is the result of my motherland's trust, my predecessors' guidance, and the entire crew's concerted efforts, which enabled me to fulfill the mission successfully, said Wu. Zhang Hongzhang, payload specialist of the crew, oversaw a slew of scientific experiments in the space station, including the projects he co-designed. Moving from a ground-based laboratory to the space station, it is our great motherland that has allowed me to realize the perfect integration of my scientific aspirations and spaceflight dream, he said. During the Shenzhou-21 mission, the crew conducted three spacewalks and completed tasks such as the inspection and photographing of the Shenzhou-20 spaceship return capsule's viewport window and the installation of space debris shielding devices on the space station, while they also carried out multiple cargo in-and-out operations. China launched the Shenzhou-21 spaceship on Oct. 31, 2025 to send the Shenzhou-21 crew to its space station for rotation with the Shenzhou-20 crew. However, the Shenzhou-20 crew later found that the Shenzhou-20 spaceship's return capsule viewport window had suffered a suspected impact from space debris during its mission and was unfit for the crew return mission. On Nov. 14, 2025, the Shenzhou-20 crew returned safely aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft. On Nov. 25, 2025, China launched the Shenzhou-22 spaceship to provide an emergency return vessel for the Shenzhou-21 crew. DIVERSE SPACE EXPERIMENTS The Shenzhou-21 crew achieved new results in an array of scientific experiments and technological tests covering microgravity fundamental physics, space material science, space life sciences, aerospace medicine and new space technologies. The crew completed electrochemical optical in-situ research of lithium-ion batteries in terms of space applications, as well as related experiments in the fields of life sciences, fluid and combustion experiments. The crew also achieved, for the first time aboard China's space station, the closed-environment breeding of mice, laying a technical foundation for future space mammal experiments. In addition, they grew low-defect indium selenide crystals in orbit, which have been used to prepare high-performance field-effect transistor prototype devices on the ground, demonstrating significantly superior performance. In the field of space medicine, the crew achieved non-contact detection of in-orbit physiological indicators through intelligent recognition of facial micro-movements, and constructed a preliminary model for astronaut exercise fatigue. They realized the aeroponic cultivation of cherry tomatoes and wheat for the first time on China's space station, validating related key technologies. They also successfully achieved in-orbit ignition of a new ionic liquid propellant, obtaining dynamic optical information on the catalytic ignition and sustained combustion processes.