Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Chinese space station crew returns after six months in orbit
Beijing, Nov 3 (AFP) Nov 03, 2024
A three-person Chinese crew returned to Earth early Monday after more than six months aboard the Tiangong space station, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu were all "in good health" after touching down in the return capsule of their Shenzhou spaceship at the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia, Xinhua said.

The three men had traveled to Tiangong in late April and were met on October 30 by three new astronauts, including the country's only woman spaceflight engineer, with whom they did a five-day handover before making their return journey.

China has ramped up plans to achieve its "space dream" under President Xi Jinping.

Its space programme was the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.

Crewed by teams of three astronauts that are rotated every three-six months, the Tiangong space station is the programme's crown jewel.

Its core module was launched in 2021, and it is planned to be used for about 10 years.

Beijing says it is on track to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, where it intends to construct a base on the lunar surface.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Is gravity quantum?
Reusable debris collector promises leap forward in sustainable space cleanup
Exolaunch secures multi year SpaceX rideshare launch deal through 2028

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light's ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy
Agrivoltaic systems gain public favor over conventional solar parks
How to solve a bottleneck for CO2 capture and conversion

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Trump unveils plans for 'Golden Dome' missile shield for US
Philippines, US coast guards join military drills in South China Sea
Russian strike on Ukrainian military training site kills six: Kyiv

24/7 News Coverage
UN body clears China's Minmetals for deep-sea mining testing
Asian elephants found to have significantly larger brains than African counterparts
Healing Ozone Hole Key to Boosting Southern Ocean Carbon Uptake


All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.