Chinese astronaut group returns to Earth after 6 months in space

The return compartment of the Shenzhou-13 ship landed at Dongfeng on the morning of April 16 – Photo: XINHUA

According to China National Television CCTV, the spacecraft Shenzhou-13 (Shenzhou-13) with cosmonauts Zhuo Zhigang (Zhai Zhigang), Wang Yaping (Wang Yaping) and Ye Guangfu (Ye Guangfu) landed in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on the morning of April 16, ending the longest mission of a Chinese crew in space ever.

The astronauts started their mission in October 2021. Shenzhou-13 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (Jiuquan) in the Gobi Desert in northern China, bringing these astronauts to the Tiangong Space Station to work for the past 6 months.

In it, astronaut Zhuo Zhigang – the first Chinese astronaut to walk in space (in 2008) – commanded this crew.

Astronaut Wang Yaping is the first Chinese female astronaut to go to the Tiangong Space Station and the first Chinese female astronaut to walk in space (in November 2021, when she and her companion Industry has 6 hours to install equipment for Thien Cung Station.

This is the 2nd crew out of 4 crews sent to the Thien Cung Space Station from 2021-2022. This second crew’s mission to Thien Cung Space Station was twice as long as the first crew’s mission (92 days).

Ground forces support the returning astronauts – Photo: XINHUA

During this mission, the 3 astronauts completed 2 spacewalks, performed many experiments, installed equipment and tested technology for future missions, the most recent of which was the The Shenzhou-14 launch plan is expected to be carried out in the next few months.

China began construction of the Tiangong Space Station in April 2021. Once completed, this space station will operate at an altitude of 400-450km above the Earth’s surface and can operate stably for a period of 10 years.

According to the plan, the average time for a business trip of astronauts on Thien Cung Station is 6 months.