Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 6 months on the space station
Kyiv • UNN
Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth after completing a six-month mission aboard the Chinese space station Tiangong.
A Chinese spacecraft with three astronauts has returned to Earth after completing a six-month mission aboard the country's orbiting space station. UNN writes about this with reference to the AR.
Details
The Shenzhou-17 spacecraft carrying astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin has landed at the Dongfeng site in the northern Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in the Gobi Desert.
The astronauts were at China's Tiangong space station, which China built after being expelled from the International Space Station, largely due to US concerns about the Chinese military's total control over the space program amid heightened competition in technology.
China's ambitious space program aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2030, as well as return samples from Mars around the same year and launch three lunar probe missions over the next four years. This year, two cargo spacecraft launches and two manned space flights are planned for the Chinese station.
The new crew of the station consists of veteran astronaut Ye Guangfu, who participated in the Shenzhou 13 mission in 2021, fighter pilot Li Kong and astronaut Li Guangxu, who are new to spaceflight.
They will spend about six months on three modules of the Tiangong space station. During their stay on the station, they will conduct scientific tests, install space debris protection equipment, conduct payload experiments, and broadcast science classes to students on Earth.
China has also stated that it plans to eventually open access to its space station to foreign astronauts and space tourists. As the ISS nears the end of its service life, China may become the only country or corporation to maintain a manned station in orbit.
