Facts
- Name: ShenZhou (神舟) is Chinese for Divine Ship
- Length: 9.25 m
- Diameter: max. 2.8 m (living compartment)
- Weight: 7.84 t (empty)
- Docking port: One
- Energy supply: Two 4-segment solar arrays (with a span of 17m)
- Expected life time: around one month (since Shenzhou 11)
- Launch vehicle: Long March 2F
- Max. Persons: 3
- Volume: 14.00 m3
Mission overview
Mission name | Launch | Landing | Duration | Crew | Mission description |
Shenzhou 1 | 19th November 1999 | 20th November 1999 | 21 hours 11 minutes | No crew on board | The Shenzhou 1 was the first test flight of a Shenzhou spacecraft. |
Shenzhou 2 | 9th January 2001 | 16th January 2001 | 7 days 10 hours 22 minutes | No crew on board | Shenzhou 2 carried multiple scientific payloads including monkey, dog, rabbit and other animals to space and save back to earth. |
Shenzhou 3 | 25th March 2002 | 1st April 2002 | 6 days 18 hours 51 minutes | No crew on board | Onboard Shenzhou 3 a human-sized test dummy went to space and back to earth. |
Shenzhou 4 | 29th December 2002 | 5th January 2003 | 6 days 18 hours 36 minutes | No crew on board | The last test flight before a manned spaceflight carried a test dummy and multiple science experiments. |
Shenzhou 5 | 15th October 2003 | 15th October 2003 | 21 hours 23 minutes | – Yang Liwei | This was China’s first manned spaceflight and China became the third country that send a human into space by their own spacecraft and rocket. |
Shenzhou 6 | 12th October 2005 | 16th October 2005 | 4 days 19 hours 33 minutes | – Fei Junlong – Nie Haisheng | Shenzhou 6 was China’s first two-person spaceflight and they stayed multiple days in space. |
Shenzhou 7 | 25th September 2008 | 28th September 2008 | 2 days 20 hours 27 minutes | – Zhai Zhigang – Liu Boming – Jing Haipeng | On Shenzhou 7 China performed for the first time a three-person spaceflight and undertook the first spacewalk. |
Shenzhou 8 | 31st October 2011 | 17th November 2011 | 16 days 13 hours 34 minutes | No crew on board | During Shenzhou 8 mission occurred the first autonomous docking of a Shenzhou spacecraft with Tiangong-1 space laboratory. |
Shenzhou 9 | 16th June 2012 | 29th June 2012 | 12 days 15 hours 24 minutes | – Jing Haipeng – Liu Wang – Liu Yang | This Shenzhou mission performed the first manned visit of Tiangong-1 space laboratory and a first spaceflight of a Chinese woman. |
Shenzhou 10 | 11th June 2013 | 26th June 2013 | 14 days 14 hours 29 minutes | – Nie Haisheng – Zhang Xiaoguang – Wang Yaping | The Shenzhou 10 flight was the second manned visit of Tiangong-1 space laboratory and the first Chinese two-week-stay in space. |
Shenzhou 11 | 17th October 2016 | 18th November 2016 | 32 days 06 hours 29 minutes | – Jing Haipeng – Chen Dong | Shenzhou 11 marked China’s first long duration flight and only flight to Tiangong-2 space laboratory. |
Shenzhou 12 | 17th June 2021 | 17th September 2021 | 92 days 04 hours 11 minutes | – Nie Haisheng – Liu Boming – Yang Hongbo | The Shenzhou 12 was the first manned flight to visit the core module TianHe of China’s space station. |
Shenzhou 13 | 15th October 2021 | 16th April 2022 | 182 days, 9 hours 32 minutes | – Zhai Zhigang – Wang Yaping – Ye Guangfu | The Shenzhou 13 was the 2nd flight to the Chinese Space Station. The long-duration flight was another record for China as well for Wang Yaping. She is now Chinese with the longest stay in space with on overall of 197 days. |
Shenzhou 14 | Planned | 5th June 2022 | around 6 months | Crew unknown | The Shenzhou 14 will be China’s 3rd flight to the Chinese Space Station. |