Shenzhou 14

Shenzhou 14 was China's third crewed mission to the Tiangong space station and the main crewed construction mission for the station's three-module core configuration. The spacecraft launched from Jiuquan on June 5, 2022 with Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe, then docked with Tianhe about seven hours later. Over roughly six months in orbit, the crew lived aboard Tianhe, supported station maintenance, robotic-arm work, cargo operations, and space-science experiments, and helped bring the Wentian and Mengtian laboratory modules into crewed operation. They became the first Chinese crew to enter the Wentian lab module in orbit, later entered Mengtian, and taught a Tiangong Classroom lesson from Wentian. The mission also included three EVAs to install and test exterior equipment and to support the growing station. Shenzhou 14 overlapped with the arriving Shenzhou 15 crew for China's first direct handover between resident crews before returning safely on December 4, 2022.