Three Chinese Ticonauts returned to Earth on Saturday after six months aboard their country’s new orbital station, in the longest manned mission to date in China’s ambitious space program.
The Shenzhou 13 space capsule landed in the Gobi desert in the Inner Mongolia region in the north of the country and was broadcast live on state television.
On the mission, Tikonaut Wang Yaping performed the first spacewalk by a Chinese woman. Wang and his crewmates Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu broadcast physics classes for high school students.
China sent its first Ticonaut into space in 2003, landed a rover on the moon in 2013, and landed on Mars last year. Authorities are studying the possibility of conducting a manned mission to the moon.
State television on Saturday showed images from inside the capsule as it traveled over Africa at 200 meters per second before entering the atmosphere.
The three members were the second crew aboard the Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace. Its core module, Tianhe, was launched in April 2021. Construction is scheduled to be completed later this year by adding two more modules.
Authorities have not yet announced a date for the start of the next Tiangong crew.
(With information from AP)