Three Chinese astronauts have returned from space after six months
Three Chinese astronauts have landed on Earth 183 days after the longest space mission. The astronauts landed in northern China at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday. China's state-run broadcaster CCTV quoted AFP as saying.
After a rover landed on Mars in a spacecraft called Shenzhou-13 and explored the moon, they returned to Earth. The Beijing mission is the latest in a series of missions aimed at turning the United States into a major space rival, AFP reported.
Two male and one female astronauts took part in the mission. They are Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping. They landed safely on Earth in a small capsule.
In October last year, the three Chinese astronauts took off from a launch site in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. This was the second of four missions to be sent to Tiangang, China's first permanent manned space station, in 2021-22.
Wan became the first Chinese woman to walk in space in November last year. She and her colleagues worked on the installation of Zhai space station equipment. Mission Commander Zhai is a former fighter pilot. He did China's first spacewalk in 2008, and Ye was a People's Liberation Army pilot.
In the next few months, China plans to send another manned space mission aboard the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft.
