The
Shenzhou-13 capsule carrying astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye
Guangfu touched down successfully at 9:56 am local time in the Dongfeng landing
site in Gobi Desert, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, state-run
Xinhua news agency reported.
The
medical team confirmed that the crew members are in good health, marking the
full success of the Shenzhou-13 manned spaceflight mission, the Global Times
newspaper reported.
The
astronauts spent six months on the Tiangong space station and nearly doubled
the previous record of China's longest single space flight mission of 92 days
set by the Shenzhou-12, it said
Apart from the long-term stay in space, the mission has set
many records and firsts in the country's manned space history, it said.
The Shenzhou spacecraft developer, China Academy of
Spacecraft Technology (CAST), said in a statement that the Shenzhou-13 mission
also explored emergency mission mechanisms for the first time, with the
Shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft and Long March-2F Y14 rocket in standby position
right after the launch of the Shenzhou-13 and Long March-2F Y13.
This enabled a potential space rescue of the Shenzhou-13
taikonauts in case of any malfunction preventing the spacecraft from returning
to Earth.
Compared to the return trip of the Shenzhou-12 mission which
took approximately 28 hours, the Shenzhou-13 carried out a rapid return
manoeuvre which took just eight hours.
The CAST said that the Shenzhou-13 orbit plan was
streamlined to five orbits compared to the 18 of the Shenzhou-12 mission, and
it was designed to further enhance return efficiency, shorten the ground
monitoring and make it more comfortable for the returning astronauts.
The probe used three parachutes to slow down from a speed of
200 metres a second to 7 metres a second as it approached the Earth.
The Shenzhou 13 crew began their mission in October last
year and spent six months in orbit.
The crew performed two spacewalks to install components for
the external mechanical arm, adjust cameras and conduct tests. In November,
Wang became the first Chinese woman to have performed a spacewalk.
Researchers will now launch a full evaluation of key
technologies used on the space station before launching the next phase of the
Tiangong mission.
An unmanned supply mission is expected next month before the
Shenzhou 14 crew travel to the space station to oversee the docking of two
space laboratories, named Wentian and Mengtian, to complete the configuration
of the T-shaped space station by the end of the year.
The China Manned Space Agency said last month that the crews
for the next two missions have been identified and were in training, but their
names have yet to be announced.
Besides scientific missions, the crew also gave two live
science lectures from the space station, during which they conducted various
experiments and answered questions from students watching the class on Earth,
CGTN, an international English-language Chinese state-run cable TV news service
based in Beijing, said.
With the advance in space communication technologies, the
crew members were able to entertain themselves on the internet, talking to
their families and friends frequently and having space-Earth interactions on a
regular basis, the Global Times reported.
Pang Zhihao, a senior space expert, told the Global Times on
Saturday that normally it would take around three months for astronauts
returning from space to recover their strength.
However, it could take a bit longer for the Shenzhou-13
crew, as they stayed in space for such a long period, Pang said.