Three Chinese astronauts returned safely to Earth on Tuesday after five months in orbit of the Tiangong space station, Chinese television reported, calling the mission a “complete success.”
According to CCTV, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao landed at the Dongfeng site in China at 8:11 a.m. (0011 GMT).
Television images showed their capsule parachuting into the Gobi Desert (northwest), surrounded by a thick cloud of orange dust.
“Medical monitoring and personnel on site have confirmed that the astronauts … are in good health,” CCTV said.
“The Shenzhou-16 mission was a complete success,” she added.
The three men flew into space in late May and were in orbit for 154 days, spending most of the time conducting scientific experiments.
They also conducted a nearly eight-hour spacewalk.
A new team, the youngest China has sent so far, replaced them last week as part of the Shenzhou-17 mission.
With an average age of 38 (compared to 42 for the previous crew), Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin will conduct “space science and application payload testing,” according to the National Space Agency.
They will also carry out maintenance work to repair minor damage caused by space debris to the station.
The astronauts’ stay on Tiangong is expected to last six months.
This experience is valuable for the Asian giant, which aims to send a Chinese man to the moon by 2030, a key goal of a space program that has been progressing steadily for several decades.
Beijing has been investing billions of euros in its army-run space program for several decades and has largely been able to close the gap with the Americans and Russians.
China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003 and its Tiangong space station has been fully operational since the end of 2022.