Chinese space station crew returns after six months in orbit

By AFP
November 04, 2024
Astronauts for Chinas Shenzhou-18 space mission (L-R) Li Guangsu, Ye Guangfu and Li Cong wave during a departure ceremony before boarding a bus to take them to the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China on April 25, 2024. — AFP
Astronauts for China's Shenzhou-18 space mission (L-R) Li Guangsu, Ye Guangfu and Li Cong wave during a departure ceremony before boarding a bus to take them to the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China on April 25, 2024. — AFP

BEIJING: A three-person Chinese crew returned to Earth early on Monday after more than six months aboard the Tiangong space station, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu were all “in good health” after touching down in the return capsule of their Shenzhou spaceship at the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia, Xinhua said.

The three men had traveled to Tiangong in late April and were met on October 30 by three new astronauts, including the country´s only woman spaceflight engineer, with whom they did a five-day handover before making their return journey.

China has ramped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping. Its space programme was the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon. Crewed by teams of three astronauts that are rotated every three-six months, the Tiangong space station is the programme´s crown jewel.

Its core module was launched in 2021, and it is planned to be used for about 10 years. Beijing says it is on track to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, where it intends to construct a base on the lunar surface.