China’s Shenzhou-19 astronauts return to earth

Chinese language astronauts (from left) Wang Haoze, Cai Xuzhe, and Music Lingdong wave as they attend a see-off ceremony for the Shenzhou-19 mission on the Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Middle in northwestern China, October 30, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: AP

Three Chinese language astronauts returned to earth on April 30 after six months on the nation’s area station, state media footage confirmed, as Beijing advances in the direction of its intention to develop into a significant celestial energy.

China has ploughed billions of {dollars} into its area programme lately in an effort to attain what President Xi Jinping describes because the nation’s “area dream”.

The world’s second-largest economic system has daring plans to ship a crewed mission to the Moon by the top of the last decade and finally construct a base on the lunar floor.

Its newest launch final week ferried a trio of astronauts to the Tiangong area station, heralding the beginning of the Shenzhou-20 mission.

They’ve taken over from Shenzhou-19 crew Cai Xuzhe, Music Lingdong and Wang Haoze, whose touchdown capsule touched down within the northern Internal Mongolia area on Wednesday.

Shortly after the touchdown, the Xinhua state information company stated the mission was a “full success”, including that the trio had been in “good well being”.

Photos from state broadcaster CCTV confirmed the capsule, hooked up to a red-and-white striped parachute, descending by means of an azure sky earlier than hitting the bottom in a cloud of brown desert mud.

Groups of officers in white and orange jumpsuits then rushed to open the golden craft, and one planted a fluttering nationwide flag into the sandy soil close by.

The Shenzhou-19 crew had labored on the area station since October, the place they carried out experiments and set a brand new report for the longest ever spacewalk.

They had been initially scheduled to return on Tuesday, however the mission was postponed as a consequence of dangerous climate on the Dongfeng touchdown web site, in line with Chinese language authorities.

Wang, 35, was China’s solely lady spaceflight engineer on the time of the launch, in line with the Chinese language Manned House Company (CMSA).

Commander Cai, a 48-year-old former air pressure pilot, beforehand served aboard Tiangong as a part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.

Music, a 34-year-old onetime air pressure pilot, accomplished the group of spacefarers popularly dubbed “taikonauts” in China.

Daring ambitions

Final week, China noticed off the Shenzhou-20 crew in a feast of pomp and pageantry on the Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Base within the barren desert of northwestern Gansu province.

A army band and crowds of flag-waving well-wishers bade farewell to the crew earlier than they blasted off on a Lengthy March-2F rocket.

State media reported that they assumed management of the area station after a handover ceremony with its former occupants on Sunday.

The all-male Shenzhou-20 crew is headed by Chen Dong, 46, a former fighter pilot and veteran area explorer who in 2022 turned the primary Chinese language astronaut to clock up greater than 200 cumulative days in orbit.

The opposite two crew members — 40-year-old former air pressure pilot Chen Zhongrui, and 35-year-old former area expertise engineer Wang Jie — are on their first area flight.

Throughout their six-month stint, the crew will perform experiments in physics and life sciences and set up protecting tools towards area particles.

For the primary time, they can even carry aboard planarians, aquatic flatworms identified for his or her regenerative talents.

China’s area programme is the third to place people in orbit and has additionally landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon because it catches up with the 2 most established cosmic powers, the USA and Russia.

Tiangong — whose identify means “celestial palace” in Chinese language — is its tour de pressure.

China has by no means been concerned within the Worldwide House Station as a consequence of opposition from the USA.

Washington plans to return to the Moon in 2027, although the election of President Donald Trump introduced uncertainty over the mission’s destiny.