3 Chinese astronauts return home safely after six-month stint in space station
The Hindu
The three astronauts later arrived in Beijing by plane after their safe return to earth.
Three Chinese astronauts on Sunday returned safely to Earth on board the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship after completing their six-month mission to build China's space station.
Shenzhou-15's return capsule carrying astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 6.33 a.m. (Beijing Time), China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said here.
The three completed their six-month space station mission, it announced.
The astronauts were in good shape, and the Shenzhou-15 manned mission was a success, the agency announced.
The three were replaced by three other astronauts, including China's first civilian who successfully flew to the space station on May 30.
The new set of astronauts will stay in the space station for five months.
Once ready, China will be the only country to own a space station as the International Space Station (ISS) of Russia is a collaborative project of several countries. The ISS station is also set to be decommissioned by 2030.
Gaganyaan-G1, the first of three un-crewed test missions that will lead up to India’s maiden human spaceflight, is designed to mimic - end to end - the actual flight and validate critical technologies and capabilities including the Human-rated Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (HLVM3), S. Unnikrishnan Nair, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), has said