3 Chinese astronauts return after country's longest crewed space mission
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BEIJING • Three Chinese astronauts landed in northern China yesterday after 183 days in space, state broadcaster CCTV said, ending the country's longest crewed space mission to date.
The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft is the latest mission in Beijing's drive to become a major space power rivalling the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.
Live footage from the broadcaster showed the capsule landing in a cloud of dust, with ground crew who had kept clear of the landing site rushing in on helicopters to reach the capsule.
The two men and one woman - astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping - returned to Earth shortly before 10am, after six months aboard the Tianhe core module of China's Tiangong space station.
Ground crew applauded as the astronauts each took turns to report that they were in good physical condition.
Major-General Zhai was the first to emerge from the capsule roughly 45 minutes after the landing, waving at the cameras as he was lifted by ground crew into a specially designed chair before being bundled into a blanket.
"I'm proud of our heroic country," he said in an interview with CCTV shortly after leaving the capsule. "I feel extremely good."
The trio launched in the Shenzhou-13 from China's north-western Gobi Desert last October, as the second of four crewed missions last year and this year sent to assemble the country's first permanent space station - Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace".
Senior Colonel Wang became the first Chinese woman to spacewalk in November last year, as she and Maj-Gen Zhai installed space station equipment during a six-hour stint.
The trio completed two spacewalks, carried out numerous scientific experiments, set up equipment and tested technologies for future construction during their time in orbit.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
