China's Shenzhou 19 astronauts take the reins of Tiangong space station (video)

six astronauts in blue jumpsuits crowd around a table in a bright spacecraft. two across from one another each sign documents.
The Shenzhou 18 crew hands over control of the Tiangong space station to the newly arrived Shenzhou 19 astronauts. (Image credit: CCTV)

China's Shenzhou 18 crew have passed the keys to the Tiangong space station to its new occupants.

The Shenzhou 19 mission launched on a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China on Oct. 29 and arrived at the Tiangong space station 6.5 hours later. 

Shortly thereafter, at 12:51 a.m. EDT (0451 GMT) on Oct. 30, the hatch between the Shenzhou 19 spacecraft and Tiangong was opened, allowing the three Shenzhou 18 mission astronauts to greet the trio of new arrivals aboard.

The formal handover of the station happened on Friday (Nov. 1), with Shenzhou 18 commander Ye Guangfu — who recently became China's first astronaut to spend 365 days in space in total — passing a symbolic key to Shenzhou 19 commander Cai Xuzhe. Both crews then shook hands. 

Related: China's space station, Tiangong: A complete guide

The Shenzhou 19 crew is China's youngest so far, with Cai, 48, and rookies Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, both of whom were born in 1990. Wang is currently China's only female spaceflight engineer.

The Shenzhou 19 trio now begin their own six-month-long stay aboard Tiangong and get to work on a planned 86 scientific projects and experiments, as well as extravehicular activities, or spacewalks

One notable experiment will involve sending a brick made from lunar soil simulant to Tiangong for placement outside the space station. Researchers want to study how bricks made from local moon materials hold up in extreme environments to help plan a future outpost on the surface of the moon. The brick is set to arrive at Tiangong aboard the Tianzhou 8 cargo resupply mission later in November.

Meanwhile, Ye and Shenzhou 18 crewmates Li Cong and Li Guangsu will prepare to return home. They are expected to touch down in the Dongfeng landing area near Jiuquan spaceport on Nov. 3.

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Andrew Jones
Contributing Writer

Andrew is a freelance space journalist with a focus on reporting on China's rapidly growing space sector. He began writing for Space.com in 2019 and writes for SpaceNews, IEEE Spectrum, National Geographic, Sky & Telescope, New Scientist and others. Andrew first caught the space bug when, as a youngster, he saw Voyager images of other worlds in our solar system for the first time. Away from space, Andrew enjoys trail running in the forests of Finland. You can follow him on Twitter @AJ_FI.