Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth after spending six months in space

They returned to Earth unharmed. Three Chinese astronauts, two men and a woman, returned to Earth on Sunday, December 4, after six months aboard the Tiangong space station, the Chinese space agency reported, citing media. The crew landed at the Dongfeng site in Inner Mongolia (China) at 8:09 pm Beijing time (3 hours in Paris), Xinhua quoted the US space agency.

The three astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 mission, mission commander Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and China’s first female astronaut, Cai Xuzhe, are tasked with overseeing the final stages of construction of the space station, the jewel of China’s ambitious space programme. . The last unit of this under construction station was docked at the end of October, a crucial step before the completion of station assembly scheduled for the end of the year.

“I am honored to witness the formation of the basic configuration of our space station”said Chen, an Air Force pilot who became the first Chinese astronaut to stay in orbit for more than 200 days, according to Xinhua.

He handed the crew over to the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-15 mission, who arrived at Tiangong Station at the end of November. This was the first transfer of the crew into orbit by Chinese astronauts.