Overview
- The Long March-2F lifted off from Jiuquan on Oct. 31 local time, with Shenzhou-21 docking with the Tiangong station a few hours later.
- Commander Zhang Lu leads first-time fliers Wu Fei, 32, China’s youngest astronaut to fly, and payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang.
- The crew plans 27 experiments spanning biotechnology, aerospace medicine and materials science during their roughly half-year stay.
- China sent rodents to Tiangong for the first time, with two male and two female mice to be monitored for 5–7 days and expected to return on Shenzhou-20.
- Planned tasks include spacewalks and installing anti-debris shields, while officials reaffirm a 2030 lunar landing target and detail Pakistani astronaut training for a short future payload-specialist visit.