Crew members of the Shenzhou-15 mission worked on completing the construction of the country’s space station
After 6 months on the space station, 3 Chinese astronauts safely returned to Earth. The return capsule of Shenzhou-15 landed on Sunday morning (Jun 4, 2023) at 6:33 am local time – Saturday (Jun 3) 7:33 pm Brasilia time, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China. The information is from Xinhua.
According to the China Manned Space Agencythe Shenzhou-15 mission was successful, and astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu are doing well.
Commander Fei Junlong said that the team has completed all tasks and feels good about returning to Earth. Deng Qingming, who had prepared for 25 years, thanked the Chinese people for their support and encouragement. Zhang Lu, another astronaut, said he was excited and ready to train for future missions.
The return capsule separated from the orbiting Shenzhou-15 capsule at 5:42 am local time, following flight procedure.
The ground search team reached the capsule shortly after landing and confirmed that the astronauts were in good health.
On November 29, 2022, China launched the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft. The crew performed 4 successful EVA’s (extravehicular activities), the highest number so far in Chinese missions. Extravehicular activities are tasks performed outside the spacecraft by astronauts, who use space suits for maintenance, repair or installation of equipment.
In addition, the crew witnessed the completion of construction of the country’s space station.
On Tuesday (May 30), China launched a rocket with 3 astronauts to its space station on a new mission called Shenzhou-16, which is expected to last about 5 months.
Astronauts must conduct important tests and experiments, including research into quantum phenomena, time-frequency systems in space, verification of general relativity and the origin of life.
This is the 1st manned mission for China’s space station in use and is the 29th mission since the start of the country’s manned space program. The station was completed in 2022 after 11 missions including unmanned operations. China plans to expand it soon.
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