The Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-13 landed this Saturday in the Gobi Desert after completing its operations at the Tiangong space station, where three astronauts stayed for 183 days on the longest manned mission ever conducted by China.
Rescuers immediately went to the Dongfeng landing point in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia (northern), official Xinhua news agency reported.
The landing “was perfect and the three taikonauts are in very good condition,” said the Global Times newspaper quoting the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
The images released so far show ground workers opening the capsule hatch, but astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping have not yet been seen, the latter the second Chinese woman in space and last November, the first to go on a “spacewalk”.
The return to earth took about nine hours after this morning Shenzhou-13 completed the separation of the main module from the Tiangong space station.
This is the second manned mission that China sends to its space station, which is expected to be ready by the end of this year.
Since its launch on October 16, taikonauts have completed several tasks to advance the preparation of the Chinese space station, including two spacewalks, more than twenty scientific experiments and data collection.
China's next manned space mission will take place this year and will again consist of six people, as advanced last March by the chief designer of China's manned space project, Zhou Jianping.
The Asian country will bring to Tiangong in 2022 “two experimental modules, two manned ships and two cargo ships”, said Zhou, adding that the station will enter a “construction phase” starting in May.
Taikonauts from Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 are expected to complete construction work on Tiangong, which should be ready by the end of this year, according to original plans.
The Chinese space station, whose name means “Heavenly Palace” in Mandarin, will weigh about 70 tons and is expected to operate for about 15 years orbiting about 400 kilometers from the earth's surface.
(With information from EFE)
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