The Shenzhou-18 crew, consisting of three Chinese astronauts, returned safely to Earth in the early hours of Monday after completing a six-month mission on the space station.
The Shenzhou-18 module, carrying astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, landed at the Dongfeng landing site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 1:24 a.m. (local time).
The three astronauts, who spent 192 days in orbit, arrived on Earth in good health, and the Shenzhou-18 mission was successful.
Ye, the Shenzhou-18 mission commander, became the first Chinese astronaut to spend more than a year in space, setting a new record for the longest time a Chinese astronaut has spent in orbit.
He was a member of the Shenzhou-13 mission crew from October 2021 to April 2022.
China launched the Shenzhou-18 crew on April 25th, 2024. During the mission, the Shenzhou-18 crew used scientific experiment cabinets and external payloads to conduct dozens of experiments in fields such as fundamental microgravity physics, space material science, space life sciences, space medicine, and space technology, Federalna writes.
Photo: Federalna
