Posted: Sat, Nov 1, 2025, 11:22 AM ET (1522 GMT)

A Chinese crewed spacecraft arrived at the Tiangong space station hours after launch Friday. A Long March 2F rocket lifted off at 11:44 am EDT (1544 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, placing the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft docked with Tiangong at 3:22 pm EDT (1922 GMT). Shenzhou-21 delivered to the station astronauts Zhang Lu, Zhang Hongzhang, and Wu Fei, who will spend the next six months on the station. The current Tiangong crew of Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie wil return to Earth on Shenzhou-20 in early November.