Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth after six months in space
BEIJING: Three Chinese astronauts landed in northern China on Saturday after 183 days in space, state broadcaster CCTV said, ending the country’s longest crewed space mission to date. The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft is the latest mission in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power rivalling the US, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. The two men and one woman — Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping — landed in a small capsule shortly before 10 am Beijing time, after six months aboard the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station. “Shenzhou 13’s re-entry capsule successfully landed,” state broadcaster CCTV said. The trio originally launched in the Shenzhou-13 from the Gobi Desert in northwestern China last October, as the second of four crewed missions during 2021-2022 sent to assemble the country’s first permanent space station — Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace.” Wang became the first Chinese woman to spacewalk last Nove...