Shenzhou-20 Crew Joins Space Station for In-Orbit Handover

The three astronauts aboard China’s Shenzhou-20 spaceship entered the country’s space station and met with the Shenzhou-19 crew in the early hours of Friday, marking the beginning of a new round of in-orbit crew handover. The Shenzhou-19 crew opened the hatch at 1:17 a.m. (Beijing Time) to greet the new arrivals, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

This historic moment marks the sixth space get-together in China’s aerospace history, with all six crew members taking group pictures aboard the station. The two teams will live and work together for about five days to carry out planned tasks and complete the handover process, the CMSA stated.

Following the handover, the Shenzhou-19 crew is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on April 29.