Three Historic Chinese Astronauts Successfully Landed On Earth, This Is Their Next Mission!

CNSA successfully repatriated three astronauts who had spent their national record 182 days in orbit to Earth. (photo: Space.com Video Screenshot Link:)

JAKARTA - The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has successfully repatriated three astronauts who had spent their national record 182 days in orbit to Earth.

It was commander Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and the first female astronaut Wang Yaping who landed in the Dongfeng landing zone at 9:56 p.m. East recently on a mission dubbed Shenzhou-13.

This is the first time China has used rapid return, cutting the number of orbits after leaving Tianhe from 11 to five. Landed nine hours after takeoff.

"I want to report to the motherland and people that we have successfully fulfilled the Shenzhou-13 space mission," Zhai said.

The chief designer of the astronaut system for China's human spaceflight program, Huang Weifen, said the astronauts are currently in good condition.

"Judging from the current status of the astronauts, we can say that our training and our support services are effective," Huang said.

This mission is not only the longest in China with the three spending six months aboard Tianhe, the core module for Tiangong. Tiangong is a Chinese space station under construction.

Shenzhou 13 is part of 11 missions China plans to complete construction of Tiangong. China first launched the Tianhe module in April 2021, and then sent three taikonauts to get the station online.

Meanwhile, taikonaut Wang also made history as the first Chinese woman to visit the country's space station and also became the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.

Wang was accompanied by Ye and commander Zhai. All three have crossed a total of two spacewalks. They conducted a pair of extravehicular activities totaling 12 hours and 36 minutes, conducted various science experiments and technology trials, and even held hands-on science lectures for students on Earth.

The mission is a testament to China's ability to carry out long-term human space missions in a showdown to the United States (US). The country is currently also preparing for the next mission.

According to a SpaceNews report on Monday, April 18, the next mission will use the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft and the Long March 7 launch vehicle now at the Wenchang spaceport, southern China, which will depart next month.

Tianzhou-4 will deliver supplies and propellant to Tianhe to support the Shenzhou-14 crewed mission, which is expected to launch from Jiuquan in June.

The mission will also welcome the arrival of two new modules, Wentian and Mengtian, which are claimed to be launched early in the second half of this year. The two new modules will dock with Tianhe and complete the orbital outpost of the three T-shaped modules.

The Shenzhou-13 crew were also aboard Tianhe for a transposition test in which the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft was used as an analogue for the new space station module.

Indeed, the mission in June is not just an ordinary mission, but China is using it for cultural events that will be shown on television in the context of the Chinese New Year. The astronauts will also interact with young participants at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China event in the US on space exploration held on April 9.