Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth with ‘absolute success’

Three Chinese cosmonauts returned to Earth today after spending six months aboard the Tiangong space station, the Chinese space agency announced in media reports, calling the mission a “total success”.

The crew, which has been on the Chinese space station since early June, landed at the Dongfeng site in Inner Mongolia (north China) at 20.09 Beijing time (14.09 Greek time), announced the space agency which is cited by the official Xinhua news agency and relayed by the Athens News Agency.

According to the medical staff, the three astronauts, including a woman, are in good health.

The three Shenzhou-14 astronauts, mission commander Chen Dong, Liu Yang, China’s first female astronaut, and Cai Suche, were tasked with overseeing the final phases of the space station’s construction, tthe crown jewel of China’s ambitious space program.

The final module of the under-construction space station was docked at the end of October, a critical stage before the completion of assembly of the station scheduled for the end of the year.

“I am honored to have seen the formation of the basic configuration of our space station”said Chen, an air force pilot who became the first Chinese astronaut to stay in orbit for more than 200 days, according to Xinhua.

The crew handed over the baton to the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-15 mission, who had arrived in late November at the Tiangong Station. It was the first crewed transfer to orbit by Chinese astronauts.

China was barred from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011 when the United States banned all NASA cooperation with Beijing.

When completed, the Tiangong space station is expected to have a mass of 90 tonnes – almost a quarter of the ISS – and a size similar to the former Russian-Soviet Mir station.

The Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) space station, also known by its English acronym CSS (from the Chinese space station), will operate for ten years and it will host various experiments in near-zero gravity.