Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after six months aboard China’s newest space station on the longest manned mission to date for the ambitious space program.
The Shenzhou-13 space capsule landed in the Gobi Desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, shown live on state television.
During the mission, astronaut Wang Yaping made the first spacewalk by a Chinese woman. Wang and crew members Jai Jigan and Ye Guangfu taught physics lessons to high school students.
After landing, the trio left the Dongfeng landing site by helicopter for a 40-minute flight to Dingxin Airport in neighboring Gansu Province. From there, they were to be flown to Beijing.
Left astronauts Ye Guangfu, Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping get excited after entering the main module of the Tianhe space station on October 16, 2021 (Tian Dingyu / Xinhua / The Associated Press)
The three astronauts began their mission by taking off from the Jiuquan satellite launch center in northwest China on October 16, 2021. The crew lived and worked on the Chinese space station Tiangong for 183 days, the longest stay in space of Chinese astronauts.
China launched its first astronaut into space in 2003 and landed rover robots on the moon in 2013 and on Mars last year. Authorities have discussed a possible mission with a crew to the moon.
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