The Shenzhou spacecraft carried a crew of Fèi Jùnlóng (费俊龙) and Niè Hǎishèng (聂海胜) for five days in low Earth orbit.

The crew were able to change out of their new lighter space suits, conduct scientific experiments, and enter the orbital module for the first time, giving them access to toilet facilities.

[2] It landed in the Siziwang Banner of Inner Mongolia on October 16, 2005, the same site as the previous crewed and uncrewed Shenzhou flights.

Huang Chunping, the chief designer of the Long March 2F rocket, was quoted in the Beijing Times as saying the crew members who would fly the mission were selected from a pool of three pairs.

[3] The Ta Kung Pao newspaper had reported that Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng were the leading pair, after having been in the final group of three for Shenzhou 5.

[4] At 01:39 UTC Chen Bingde, the Chief Commander of the Chinese space program, announced the launch was successful.

This launch time was confirmed two weeks later by Jiang Jingshan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

[9] General Secretary and President Hu Jintao was present at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center to watch the launch.

After about an hour and a half, the hatch between the re-entry and orbital modules was opened and, for the first time, crew were able to enter the second living compartment of the Shenzhou spacecraft.

On October 15, Niè and Fèi had a two-minute conversation with General Secretary and President Hu Jintao, beginning at 08:29.

I hope you will successfully complete your task by carrying out the mission calmly and carefully and have a triumphant return".

[13] One minute after this separation, the engines on the service module ignited over the coast of West Africa to slow the spacecraft.

The main parachute opened and the capsule began to slowly descend to a landing on the Inner Mongolia northern grasslands at 4:33 a.m. local time (20:33 UTC).

[15] About half an hour after landing, the recovery forces had the hatch of the spacecraft open and first Fèi, and then Niè emerged.

The capsule was returned to Beijing by train and handed over to China Research Institute of Space Technology at Changping railway station.

The menu included pineapple-filled mooncakes, green vegetables, braised bamboo shoots, rice, and bean congee.

The People's Daily said that the interior design of the spacecraft has been changed to hopefully lessen the likelihood of nausea and other symptoms.

It was announced in July 2005 that Shenzhou 6 would carry one experiment involving the sperm of pigs from Rongchang County, Chongqing.

[30] But on October 11 it was revealed by Liu Luxiang, director of the Centre for Space Breeding at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, that there were no plans for animal or plant seeds on the flight.

[32] Morris Jones who writes for SpaceDaily.com has speculated that the lack of any other announced experiments suggested that the mission could be oriented more toward the military.

The crew could have operated a large surveillance film camera, supplementing the uncrewed recoverable satellite program.

The Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center global map showed their positions to be:[33] Only one other land-based tracking station is outside China — at Swakopmund in Namibia.