Lagatar24 Desk
Beijing, April 16: Three Chinese astronauts landed in northern China on Saturday, finishing the country’s longest crewed space mission to date, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
After landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon, Beijing’s push to become a major space power rivalling the US continues with the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft.
After six months onboard China’s Tiangong space station, the two men and one woman Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu, and Wang Yaping landed safely in a tiny capsule soon before 10 a.m. Beijing time.
Ground crews who had stayed clear of the landing location rushed in helicopters to reach the capsule in a cloud of dust, according to live CCTV footage. As the astronauts took turns reporting that they were ‘feeling good,’ the ground crew celebrated.
The trio took off in the Shenzhou-13 last October from the Gobi Desert in northwestern China, as the second of four crewed missions dispatched to build China’s first permanent space station, Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace,” between 2021 and 2022.
Last November, Wang and her colleague Zhai became the first Chinese women to spacewalk, completing a six-hour mission to install space station equipment. Mission commander Zhai, 55, is a former fighter pilot who took part in China’s first spacewalk in 2008, while Ye is a pilot with the People’s Liberation Army. During their time in orbit, the three undertook two spacewalks, conducted several scientific experiments, set up equipment, and evaluated technologies for future development.
