China's Shenzhou-20 crew completes space mission, set to return home

ANKARA

The crew of China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft completed an in-orbit handover with the Shenzhou-21 team aboard the Chinese Space Station, the China Manned Space Agency (CMS) announced on Tuesday.

During a brief ceremony, the two crews officially transferred the keys of the Chinese Space Station, said CMS in a brief statement on US social media company X.

The Shenzhou-20 astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth on Nov. 5.

The Shenzhou-20 crew has been in orbit for 188 days. The commander of the Shenzhou-20 crew, Chen Dong, has become the first Chinese astronaut to spend more than 400 days in space, as well as the Chinese astronaut with the most spacewalks to date, with six extravehicular activities under his belt.

On Friday, China launched its sixth crewed flight mission into space with three astronauts, including its youngest-ever astronaut, and four mice onboard.

The taikonauts are also carrying four mice, including two males and two females, to China’s Tiangong space station for the first time to carry out experiments.