Three Chinese astronauts returned to earth on April 30 after six months on the nation’s house station, state media footage confirmed, as Beijing advances in the direction of its purpose to turn out to be a significant celestial energy.
China has ploughed billions of {dollars} into its house programme lately in an effort to obtain what President Xi Jinping describes because the nation’s “space dream”.
The world’s second-largest economic system has daring plans to ship a crewed mission to the Moon by the top of the last decade and ultimately construct a base on the lunar floor.
Its newest launch final week ferried a trio of astronauts to the Tiangong house station, heralding the beginning of the Shenzhou-20 mission.
They have taken over from Shenzhou-19 crew Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, whose touchdown capsule touched down within the northern Inner Mongolia area on Wednesday.
Shortly after the touchdown, the Xinhua state information company stated the mission was a “complete success”, including that the trio had been in “good health”.
Pictures from state broadcaster CCTV confirmed the capsule, connected to a red-and-white striped parachute, descending by way of an azure sky earlier than hitting the bottom in a cloud of brown desert mud.
Teams of officers in white and orange jumpsuits then rushed to open the golden craft, and one planted a fluttering nationwide flag into the sandy soil close by.
The Shenzhou-19 crew had labored on the house station since October, the place they carried out experiments and set a brand new report for the longest ever spacewalk.
They had been initially scheduled to return on Tuesday, however the mission was postponed due to unhealthy climate on the Dongfeng touchdown website, in accordance to Chinese authorities.
Wang, 35, was China’s solely lady spaceflight engineer on the time of the launch, in accordance to the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Commander Cai, a 48-year-old former air power pilot, beforehand served aboard Tiangong as a part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.
Song, a 34-year-old onetime air power pilot, accomplished the group of spacefarers popularly dubbed “taikonauts” in China.
Bold ambitions
Last week, China noticed off the Shenzhou-20 workforce in a feast of pomp and pageantry on the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base within the barren desert of northwestern Gansu province.
A navy band and crowds of flag-waving well-wishers bade farewell to the crew earlier than they blasted off on a Long March-2F rocket.
State media reported that they assumed management of the house station after a handover ceremony with its former occupants on Sunday.
The all-male Shenzhou-20 crew is headed by Chen Dong, 46, a former fighter pilot and veteran house explorer who in 2022 turned the primary Chinese astronaut to clock up greater than 200 cumulative days in orbit.
The different two crew members — 40-year-old former air power pilot Chen Zhongrui, and 35-year-old former house know-how engineer Wang Jie — are on their first house flight.
During their six-month stint, the crew will perform experiments in physics and life sciences and set up protecting tools in opposition to house particles.
For the primary time, they may even convey aboard planarians, aquatic flatworms identified for his or her regenerative talents.
China’s house programme is the third to put people in orbit and has additionally landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon because it catches up with the 2 most established cosmic powers, the United States and Russia.
Tiangong — whose identify means “celestial palace” in Chinese — is its tour de power.
China has by no means been concerned within the International Space Station due to opposition from the United States.
Washington plans to return to the Moon in 2027, although the election of President Donald Trump introduced uncertainty over the mission’s destiny.
Published – April 30, 2025 02:29 pm IST
