On 4 December 2022 Shenzhou 14 with its three taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, aboard, left the Chinese Space Station (CSS), undocking from the Tianhe core module’s nadir port of the at 0430 GMT. The taikonauts had been onboard the CSS for 181 days. Their mission objective was to continue with the assembly of the orbiting space station.
At 1115 GMT Shenzou 14 performed its first attitude adjustment prior to the separation of the Orbital Module. At approximately 1122 GMT the craft performed a deorbit burn for around three minutes before separation from the propulsion module around 1145 GMT.
Descent Module lands safely at the Dongfeng landing site. Courtesy: Xinhua/Li Gang
Shenzhou 14’s descent module re-entered at approximately 1200 GMT. After re-entry the craft safely touchdown at Dongfeng Landing Site in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia at 1209 GMT, around nine hours after undocking from the CSS. The crew of Shenzhou 14 created Chinese history when they were part of the country’s first crew handover on the CSS, with the crew of Shenzhou 15 upon their arrival on 29 November 2022. The crew of Shenzhou 15 are expected to complete the final assembly of the space station during their tour of duty.
