Chinese astronauts land on Earth after China's longest crewed space mission

The astronauts landed nine hours after they left a key module of China`s first space station.

Shanghai: Three Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Saturday (April 16, 2022) after 183 days in space, state television reported, completing the country`s longest crewed space mission to date.

The astronauts landed nine hours after they left a key module of China`s first space station.

While in orbit, the Shenzhou-13 mission astronauts took manual control in the Tianhe living quarters module for what state media called a "docking experiment" with the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft.

Following their launch in October, the astronauts - Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and a female crew member Wang Yaping - spent 183 days in space, completing the fifth of 11 missions needed to finish the space station by the end of the year.

Shenzhou-13 was the second of four planned crewed missions to complete construction of the space station, which began last April. Shenzhou-12 returned to Earth in September.