State media announced Sunday that three Chinese astronauts who were stationed at the country’s space station have safely returned to Earth and hailed the mission as a “complete success”.
According to state news agency Xinhua, the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft’s return capsule landed at a landing site in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China.
According to Xinhua, the astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu were in “good physical condition” as they emerged from the capsule.
“The mission… was a complete success,” it said.
Footage showed medical officials in white jumpsuits and face masks swaddling the astronauts in blue blankets and carrying them away from the arid landing site, where the copper-coloured capsule lay flanked by red flags.
The trio had spent six months performing spacewalks and various scientific investigations at the Tiangong space station.
As part of the follow-up Shenzhou-16 mission, China this week launched three additional astronauts, including its first civilian in orbit, to the space station.
The military-run space program of the second-largest economy in the world has received billions of dollars in funding in a bid to catch up to the United States and Russia.
By 2030, Beijing hopes to conduct a crewed expedition to the Moon and has plans to establish a base there.
