Shenzhou-21 Mission Being Extended, Taikonauts Perform Another Spacewalk [SZ-21 EVA-3]
With extra supplies onboard, Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang are staying onboard Tiangong for a few more weeks, and staying busy with their third spacewalk.
A month and a few hours after their previous spacewalk, the Shenzhou-21 taikonauts performed their third spacewalk outside of the Tiangong Space Station. Like the previous two spacewalks, Zhang Hongzhang (张洪章)1 remained inside the station, supporting crewmates Wu Fei (武飞)2, in the blue suit, and Zhang Lu (张陆)3, in the red suit, for their tasks.
Continuing a trend for Tiangong spacewalks, the two taikonauts, supported by the station’s robotic arm and teams on Earth, installed space debris protection devices to protect areas deemed at risk and critical to long-term use of the orbiting laboratory, for today those areas were on the Mengtian module. The Tianhe, Wentian, and Mengtian modules were inspected for damage and anomalies while Zhang and Wu were outside, as is routine now.
Those activities reportedly took place over five and a half hours, starting and finishing from the Wentiang module’s airlock. The spacewalk was declared concluded at 01:36 am China Standard Time on April 17th (17:36 pm Universal Coordinated Time on April 16th), having started just after 20:00 pm in the Chinese evening the day before (after 10:00 am Universal Coordinated Time on the same day).
By participating in the recent spacewalk, Zhang Lu has now performed his seventh extravehicular activity in his career, surpassing Chen Dong’s (陈冬) six4 to become China’s most experienced spacewalker, with a total time outside of about forty-seven and a half hours. Meanwhile, Wu Fei was performing his third, bringing his cumulative time outside the space station to around twenty hours.
As of a few days ago, with the release of a new episode of ‘Tiangong TV’, it was expected that the three taikonauts would return to Earth within the next four weeks, in early May, once the Shenzhou-23 mission arrives. With the spacewalk, the China Manned Space Agency announced that the crew will spend around another month, returning in early June, onboard Tiangong, writing:
“To further advance the verification of technologies critical to long-duration crewed missions in orbit and to fully leverage the comprehensive benefits of Shenzhou-22’s emergency launch5 capability for resupplying the space station, following meticulous deliberation and assessment, it is planned to extend the crew’s on-orbit stay by approximately one month.”
If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.
Long-duration crewed missions are an area of additional focus for the China Manned Space Agency this year, with plans to have one taikonaut from the Shenzhou-23 mission spending twelve months on orbit, returning with the Shenzhou-24 crew. That stay is enabling a visit by a Pakistani astronaut later this year.
It also noted that the Shenzhou-21 crew are currently healthy onboard Tiangong, along with visiting vehicles of Shenzhou-22 and Tianzhou-9. The space station’s next cargo resupply mission, Tianzhou-10, is believed to be working towards a May launch.
![Shenzhou-21 Taikonauts Perform Second Spacewalk, Harvest Space Tomatoes [SZ-21 EVA-2]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gIta!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb6695dc6-aa5c-404b-ac36-2b890133d977_5309x2311.jpeg)
Zhang Hongzhang is the Payload Expert for this mission, with it being his first trip to space. He is from Binzhou (滨州市), Shandong (山东) province, and was also selected as part of the third taikonaut group in October 2020, while being considered a ‘post-80s’ taikonaut having been born in 1986.
Prior to being selected as a taikonaut, Zhang was a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院大连化学物理研究所), where he explored new materials and technology for batteries. He also joined the Communist Party of China in 2004.
Wu Fei is the Flight Engineer for this mission, which will be his first trip into space. He is from Baotou (包头市 / ᠪᠤᠭᠤᠲᠤᠬᠣᠲᠠ), in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (内蒙古自治区 / ᠥᠪᠥᠷ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠤᠨᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠣᠨ), and was selected as part of the third taikonaut group in October 2020, while being considered a ‘post-90s’ taikonaut having been born in 1993.
Before his selection as a taikonaut, Wu was an engineer at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. He also joined the Communist Party of China in 2015.
Zhang Lu is the Commander and Pilot of the mission for his second spaceflight, having flown for the Shenzhou-15 mission between November 2022 and June 2023. He is from Hanshou County (汉寿县), Hunan (湖南) province, and was selected as part of China’s second taikonaut group in 2010, also being considered a ‘post-70s’ taikonaut having been born in November 1976.
Before becoming a taikonaut, Zhang served in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and achieved the rank of Senior Colonel. He also joined the Communist Party of China in April 1999. After the Shenzhou-15 mission, Zhang was awarded the Spaceflight Merit Medal (Third Class) along with the honorary title of hero taikonaut.
Achieved during the Shenzhou-20 mission’s third spacewalk in August 2025.
The Shenzhou-21 crew has the Shenzhou-22 spacecraft, which launched without crew, following a space debris strike to the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, with the Shenzhou-20 crew taking the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft home.