Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 183 days in space

The group astronaut landed safely on Earth 9 hours after leaving the main module of Space Station China.

While in orbit, the crew of the Shenzhou-13 mission manually operated the module in the Tianhe living quarters to carry out what the Chinese press called “the test”. dock” with the cargo ship Thien Chau-2.

After being launched in October last year, the astronaut group including Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and female member Wang Yaping, spent 183 days living and working in orbit, making the fifth trip out of 11 mission needed to complete China’s own space station by the end of the year.

Shenzhou-13 is the second out of four missions to bring humans to the complete space station. This station will be assembled from April 2021. Shenzhou-12 returned to Earth last September.

China’s next two missions are the launch of the Tianzhou-4 cargo ship and the Shenzhou-14 three-cosmonaut spacecraft, Shao Limin, deputy chief technology officer of Manned Space Systems, told the newspaper. Chinese magazine.

Banned by the United States from participating in the International Space Station (ISS), China has spent the past decade developing technology to build its own space station.

Aiming to become a space power by 2030, China successfully launched a Mars probe and became the first country to land a rover on the far side of the Moon.