Shenzhou 15

Shenzhou 15

Shenzhou 15 before liftoff
Mission type	Tiangong Space Station crew transport
Operator	China Manned Space Agency
COSPAR ID	2022-162A
SATCAT no.	54379
Mission duration	186 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Shenzhou 15
Spacecraft type	Shenzhou
Manufacturer	China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Fei Junlong Deng Qingming Zhang Lu
EVAs	4
EVA duration	7 hours 6 minutes (1st EVA only)
Start of mission
Launch date	29 November 2022, 15:08:17 UTC
Rocket	Long March 2F
Launch site	Jiuquan, LA-4/SLS
Contractor	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology
End of mission
Landing date	3 June 2023, 22:33 UTC
Landing site	Inner Mongolia, China
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	41.5°
Docking with Tiangong Space Station
Docking port	Tianhe forward
Docking date	29 November 2022, 21:42 UTC
Undocking date	3 June 2023, 13:29 UTC
Time docked	185 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes
Shenzhou 15 mission patch (L-R) Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu China Manned Space Program

Shenzhou 15 crew during the farewell ceromony

Astronaut Fei Junlong of Shenzhou 15 crew performing spacewalk on Tiangong Space Station on February 9, 2023.

Shenzhou 15 (Chinese: 神舟十五号; pinyin: Shénzhōu Shíwǔ-hào; lit. 'Divine Boat Number 15') was a Chinese spaceflight that launched on 29 November 2022, at 15:08 UTC. The flight marked the tenth crewed Chinese spaceflight and the fifteenth flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft carried 3 People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonauts on the fourth flight to the Tianhe core module, the first module of the Tiangong space station. The 3 taikonauts onboard the flight were Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. The launch of the three-person crew with a Long March 2F launch vehicle took place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Background

The spaceflight was the third Chinese mission set to last six months (186 days). The flight marked the fourth crewed mission to dock with the Tiangong space station before the end of 2022.

Mission

The mission visited the Tianhe core module following the launch and docking of Tianzhou 5, the fourth resupply mission to the station. In addition, it also marked the first Chinese crew handover and created a record of 6 taikonauts in space at the same time with Shenzhou 14. The mission was launched following the launch and docking of the Wentian and Mengtian modules, in July and October 2022, respectively. There was a 5-day overlap between Shenzhou 15 and the previous Shenzhou mission, Shenzhou 14.

The crew were greeted by the Shenzhou 14 crew while entering the Tianhe core module later on 29 November 2022, at 23:33 UTC as the fourth expedition to the Tiangong space station.

The Shenzhou 15 crew carried out 3 to 4 spacewalks, worked on payloads both inside and outside the station, and carried out other scientific work during the 6-month mission.

In preparation for the mission, Shenzhou 16 was prepped and ready on standby as an emergency rescue mission in case any serious problems were to happen to the Shenzhou 15 mission.

Spacewalks

On 9 February 2023, the first scheduled spacewalk of Shenzhou 15 was carried out by Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu through the airlock of the Wentian lab module, with Deng Qingming assisting the pair from inside the Tianhe core module. Fei and Zhang completed a series of tasks, including installing the stations fourth external pump (Z01-04) on the Mengtian lab module and other tasks related to Mengtian's payload airlock, which allows astronauts to deploy science payloads and small satellites using the station's robotic arms. The spacewalk lasted for 7 hours and 6 minutes.

They completed a series of tasks, including installing an external pump on the Mengtian lab module and other tasks related to Mengtian's payload airlock, which allows astronauts to deploy science payloads and small satellites using the station's robotic arms. After successfully completing the installation and commissioning of the extended pump set in the Mengtian experimental cabin, Fei Junlong needs to transfer to the core cabin of Tianhe, remove the foot stopper in the tool box outside the node, and then return to the Mengtian experimental cabin, and install it in the designated location for the second time out of the cabin to install large equipment. For the first time, Fei Junlong held a large-scale foot stopper and an external operating platform to carry out a large-scale transfer, which put forward higher requirements for the safety of the task. It is China's longest spacewalk to date.

Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu went out of the cabin again on 2 March 2023, to perform tasks such as the installation of external equipment on the space station. After leaving the cabin, Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu first autonomously transferred to the operating point with the help of the handrail outside the cabin. During the crawling process, Fei Junlong had to take off the two safety rope hooks of the previous handrail and hang them on the next handrail every time he moved a handrail. Repeatedly picking and hanging the hooks was not good for the strength of the astronaut’s upper limbs. small challenge.

The equipment that Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu are going to install for the second time out of the cabin has about 20 plugs, and these plugs have protective covers. When installing, you need to pull out the protective covers before inserting the plugs. Do a power test.

Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu partnered again to perform the third out-of-cabin activity on 30 March 2023 and complete the task of installing and connecting cables across the cabin. There are more than 40 plugs at both ends of the cross-cabin cable, and the work intensity and difficulty are greater than last time.

Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu successfully completed this mission in a way that they had not trained before.

During the fourth spacewalk, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 15 crew worked closely together inside and outside the cabin, and successfully completed the installation of the fifth extended pump (Z02-01) set outside the Mengtian, the installation and connection of cross-cabin cables, and the external load exposure platform. The installation of support rods and other tasks laid the foundation for the subsequent large-scale extravehicular science and technology experiments. These installations were the main task of each of the four previous pump module installation EVAs conducted by previous crews. Other tasks were to dump trash bags during the spacewalks. No duration of last three spacewalks were given.

Spacecraft

Diagram of a Shenzhou spacecraft

The Shenzhou spacecraft is based on the Soyuz design concept. Shenzhou was approved in 1992 as part of the Chinese space program Project 921, and has a design similar to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

In the front of the spacecraft, there is the orbital module which contains an androgynous docking ring based on APAS technology, which is used to dock with the Tianhe core module. In the middle is the reentry module containing the crew which is a scaled-up version of the Soyuz descent module. The rear of the spacecraft is the service module which is equipped with engines, fuel tanks, and solar panels.

Crew

The crew was publicly announced in a press conference on 28 November 2022.

Position	Crew member
Commander	Fei Junlong, PLAAC Second spaceflight
Operator	Deng Qingming, PLAAC First spaceflight
System Operator	Zhang Lu, PLAAC First spaceflight

See also

• Shenzhou (spacecraft)
• Tiangong space station
• China National Space Administration