3 Chinese astronauts return home safely after 6-month stay in space station

Beijing: Three Chinese astronauts, including a woman, who spent six months in China’s space station returned to Earth safely on Wednesday.

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship, carrying astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze -- China’s third female astronaut and a space flight engineer, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The three were taken out of the capsule one by one by the crew on the ground.

They landed at a new site in the Inner Mongolia region, after poor weather had delayed their return from the Tiangong space station.

On-site medical staff confirmed that the astronauts were in good condition, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said. Earlier, the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre issued a return command through the ground station, after which the orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-19 spaceship separated from the return capsule.

It touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the CMSA said.

The three astronauts stayed in orbit for 183 days, during which they carried out three spacewalks, breaking the previous world record for the longest single spacewalk set by the Shenzhou-18 crew members.

The crew set the record during its first extravehicular activity on December 17, 2024, which lasted for nine hours, according to CMSA.

The crew also carried out a wide range of space science experiments across various fields, including fundamental physics in microgravity, space materials science, space life sciences, aerospace medicine, and space technology, the CMSA said.

The three astronauts were launched to the Tiangong space station in October, and they turned over control of the station on Tuesday to the new crew that recently arrived to replace them.

China built its space station after it was reportedly excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) over concerns that Beijing's space programme is manned by its military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

China is currently the only country to have a space station, while the ISS is a collaborative project of several nations.