Three astronauts land after China’s longest space mission

Three Chinese astronauts returned safely from space after a three-month stay in the new Tiangong space station, currently under construction. Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming landed on Friday, September 18. It is the longest space mission ever for China at 92 days, far surpassing the previous record of the Shenzhou 11 mission in 2016, which lasted 33 days.

The astronauts are unharmed and in good physical condition, according to the Chinese Space Agency, which described the mission on the whole as “a complete success.” After landing at the Dongfeng landing site, the astronauts have since been transferred to Beijing where they arrived by plane on Friday evening.

“Three Chinese astronauts, the first sent to orbit to build a space station, completed their three-month mission and returned to Earth safely on Friday,” Chinese state news agency Xinhua wrote in a brief press release. The return capsule of the manned Shenzhou-12 spacecraft, carrying astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, landed at the Dongfeng landing site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA). “

The astronauts spent three months in space as part of the Shenzhou-12 mission, working on China’s new space station. The first module of the new Tiangong space station was launched in April this year, weighing 22 tons and reaching about the size of a five-story building. A first cargo mission to the new station was completed in May, in preparation for the arrival of the first astronauts.

The three astronauts were then launched in June, marking China’s first manned space mission in five years. While at the station, they made two spacewalks to install equipment outside the structure and performed science experiments.

This was the first of four crewed missions planned for the station during its construction period, with the goal of completing it by 2022.

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