Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday from a six-month mission to complete the construction of the Tiangong space station, according to state television.
China Central Television said that the capsule of the three astronauts, “Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuezhe,” landed at the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China, at 12:10 GMT.
The three astronauts were part of the Shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft mission that was sent to the space station last June.
The pioneers completed multiple tasks during the past months, including supervising five rendezvous and docking operations, carrying out three extravehicular activities, giving a scientific lecture via live broadcast, and conducting a number of scientific and technological experiments, according to the China News Network.
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The Tiangong space station is part of official Chinese plans for a permanent human presence in orbit.
And last Tuesday, China launched a rocket carrying three astronauts to complete the construction of its permanent space station and expand it to its full capacity.
The “Shenzhou 15” spacecraft carried three astronauts: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, to carry out the spaceflight mission, and the crew members will remain in orbit for about 6 months.
After entering orbit, the ship “Shenzhou 15” quickly and automatically docked with the front port of the core unit of the space station, and reunited with the three colleagues who returned to Earth today.
The Chinese space station is planned to be expanded to its largest configuration, which includes three modules and three spaceships, bringing its total weight to nearly 100 tons, according to Chinese media.
