Photo: AFP/Xinhua/Liu Jinhai
Eurasia
02/11/2023 09:31
Shenzhou-16's return capsule, carrying astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 8:11 a.m. (Beijing Time), and the crew had all left the return capsule by 9:10 a.m., according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The Shenzhou-16 astronauts are in good health and the Shenzhou-16 manned mission proved a success, while also marking that all three kinds of astronauts currently available in China, namely spacecraft pilot, spaceflight engineer and payload expert, had completed their flight assessments and practical tests, the CMSA said.
This mission has laid a good foundation for the subsequent development and construction of the crewed spaceflight program and large-scale space science experiments, the CMSA added, according to Xinhua.
"I am very excited at this moment as we have finally come back home and returned to our motherland," said Jing, the mission commander and the first Chinese astronaut to complete four space missions, which amounted to over 200 days.
"During our mission, the crew lived a happy life and worked efficiently. All operations were carried out without any mistakes," said Jing while sitting on a chair in front of the capsule.
Zhu, the country's first spaceflight engineer in space, said they coordinated well in successfully completing various tasks and witnessed the glorious space station Tiangong, the country's national space laboratory, during the five-month mission. "China's space station is always worth looking forward to," Zhu added.
