Icebreaker Xuelong became the first Chinese vessel to complete a voyage through the Arctic's Northwest Passage on Wednesday.

Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, started its journey by entering the Davis Strait on August 30. After eight days and 2293 nautical miles (4246.6 kilometres), it arrived in the Beaufort Sea. 

During its journey through the passage, Chinese scientists managed to accomplish several missions, including topographical seabed surveys, the recording of meteorological and sea ice data and a collection of biodiversity samples from below the surface of the sea.

The ship also made its first trip through the Transpolar Sea Route on August 16, as well as the Northeast Passage back in 2012, in order to promote the commercial use of Arctic shipping routes. This year, a total of six Chinese commercial vessels will sail through the Northeast Passage, The Paper reports.

Xuelong, on its eighth Arctic expedition at present, is the only Chinese polar icebreaking research ship currently in service, and has conducted 32 Antarctic expeditions. Construction on China’s first domestic-made polar icebreaker began in December 2016 and is expected to be delivered in 2019.