THE Shenzhou-16 crew consisting of three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth safely yesterday, after completing a five-month space station mission. Shenzhou-16’s return capsule, carrying astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 8:11 a.m. (Beijing Time), and the crew had all left the return capsule by 9:10 a.m., according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). The Shenzhou-16 astronauts are in good health and the Shenzhou-16 manned mission proved a success, while also marking that all three kinds of astronauts currently available in China, namely spacecraft pilot, spaceflight engineer and payload expert, had completed their flight assessments and practical tests, the CMSA said. This mission has laid a good foundation for the subsequent development and construction of the crewed spaceflight program and large-scale space science experiments, the CMSA added. “I am very excited at this moment as we have finally come back home and returned to our motherland,” said Jing, the mission commander and the first Chinese astronaut to complete four space missions, which amounted to over 200 days. Zhu, the country’s first spaceflight engineer in space, said they coordinated well in successfully completing various tasks and witnessed the glorious space station Tiangong, the country’s national space laboratory, during the five-month mission. The return capsule separated from Shenzhou-16’s orbiting capsule at 7:21 a.m. The brake engine then ignited and the return capsule separated from the propulsion capsule. The ground search team arrived at the landing site soon after the return capsule landed. China launched the manned spaceship Shenzhou-16 on May 30, 2023. It was the first crewed mission of the application and development stage of China’s space station. The crew, which remained in orbit for 154 days, carried out 70 space experiments in areas of aerospace medicine, life ecology, biotechnology, material science, fluid physics, fluid mechanics and aerospace technology, as well as eight engineering studies involving human-factors, obtaining a wealth of experimental data. They worked with researchers on the ground in fluid physics experiments and cold atom interferometer set-up. “Some projects have achieved application results and the comprehensive benefits of the space station as a national space lab are gradually emerging,” said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, at a press conference last Wednesday. During the mission, the Shenzhou-16 crew performed a space walk, delivered a lecture from the space station, and on several occasions assisted with the movement of cargo. They also completed tasks such as the installation of the space radiation biological exposure experiment equipment and electric propulsion system gas cylinder.(Xinhua) | 