Science

China's Shenzhou-12 spacecraft arrives on Earth with three astronauts on board

The mission remained in orbit for 90 days, a feat for the Asian country.

The Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-12 arrived on Earth today with three astronauts on board, from the space station that the Asian country is preparing to have operational next year.

The images broadcast live by state television CGTN, in the Dongfeng landing zone, in the Gobi Desert, in the province of Inner Mongolia, in north China.



Astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo return to Earth exactly three months after they went into orbit. Reception teams on the ground operated the capsule from the outside upon landing and made the necessary preparations before the disembarkation of the 'taikonauts', as cosmonauts are called in China.

Upon departure, they will be evacuated from the landing zone to Beijing, where they will undergo various medical tests, according to CGTN. From the control base they indicated that the return had been carried out successfully.

According to the China Manned Mission Space Agency, "Shenzhou-12 personnel have worked and lived on the space station for 90 days, a record for life in space on a single mission for Chinese astronauts."

This Thursday, Shenzhou-12 began the journey back to Earth after undocking from the space station at 00.56 GMT.

Last June, the astronauts who returned today headed to the central module Tianhe ("Heavenly Harmony" in Mandarin) to carry out fine-tuning work on the Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace") space station, planned operations are to begin in 2022.



According to the state news agency Xinhua, the space station will orbit the Earth at an altitude of between 340 and 450 kilometers, and is designed to last about 10 years, although experts cited by the source are confident that with proper maintenance it will be able to last longer. . 15 years.