Chinese space station crew returns after six months in orbit
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The three returning astronauts were met on Oct 30 by three new astronauts (above), including the country’s only woman spaceflight engineer.
PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING - A three-person Chinese crew returned to Earth early on Nov 4 after more than six months aboard the Tiangong space station, reported state news agency Xinhua.
Astronauts 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 travelled to Tiangong in late April
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 to 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. AFP
