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Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after spending 183 days in space, according to official broadcaster CCTV, bringing the country’s longest crewed space mission to a close.
After landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon, the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft is the latest mission in Beijing’s push to become a major space power rivalling the US.
After six months aboard the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station, the two men and one woman – Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu, and Wang Yaping – successfully landed in a tiny capsule soon before 10 a.m. Beijing time.
“The re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou 13 has successfully landed,” reported official television CCTV.
CCTV footage showed the capsule landing in a cloud of dust, with ground staff who had stayed away of the landing site rushing to the capsule in helicopters.
The ground crew rejoiced as the astronauts each reported that they were “feeling good.”
The trio first launched in the Shenzhou-13 from the Gobi Desert in northwestern China last October as the second of four crewed missions sent to build Tiangong, the country’s first permanent space station, between 2021 and 2022.
Last November, Wang and her colleague Zhai became the first Chinese women to spacewalk, installing space station equipment during a six-hour stint.
Mission commander Zhai, 55, is a former fighter pilot who did China’s first spacewalk in 2008, while Ye is a People’s Liberation Army pilot.
During their time in orbit, the three undertook two spacewalks, conducted several scientific experiments, installed equipment, and evaluated technology for future building.
The astronauts have spent the last few weeks cleaning and preparing the cabin amenities and equipment for the crew of the impending Shenzhou-14, which is anticipated to launch in the coming months.
The previous record for the length of a Chinese spaceflight mission was achieved by the Shenzhou-12 mission last year, which lasted 92 days.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, six months would be the standard astronaut stay aboard the Chinese space station.
Race to the Moon
The world’s second-largest economy has poured billions of dollars into its military-run space programme, with the goal of establishing a permanently crewed space station by 2022 and eventually transporting humans to the Moon.
The country has come a long way toward catching up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of space travel expertise.
However, under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country’s plans for its much advertised “space dream” have been accelerated.
Aside from the space station, Beijing intends to build a base on the Moon, with the National Space Administration aiming to undertake a crewed lunar expedition by 2029.
Since 2011, when the United States prohibited NASA from interacting with the International Space Station, China has been barred from participating.
While China does not intend to use its space station for global cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has stated that it is open to foreign collaboration, but the scope of that engagement is not yet known.
The ISS is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2024, while NASA has stated that it may continue operational until 2030.
