Astronauts
On Sunday, three Chinese astronauts made their safe return to Earth on board the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship following the successful completion of their six-month mission to construct China’s space station.
China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) stated, “Shenzhou-15’s return capsule carrying astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 6:33 am (Beijing Time)”.
The astronauts were in good health, and the agency declared the Shenzhou-15 manned mission a success.
Three other astronauts took their place, including China’s first civilian, who successfully went to the space station on May 30.
The new astronauts will spend five months on the space station.
China will be the only country to possess a space station once it is completed, as Russia’s International Space Station (ISS) is a shared initiative of multiple countries. The ISS station will likewise be retired in 2030.
The two robotic arms aboard China’s space station are notable, particularly the long one, which can grab anything from orbit, including satellites.
The mission commander, Fei said, “We finished all of the scheduled tasks and felt good after returning to the motherland”.
In October 2005, Fei took part in the country’s second crewed space mission, Shenzhou-6.
“I always believe in the power of dreams and persistence”, said Deng Qingming, who finally got the chance to fly to space after 25 years of preparation.
A member of China’s second batch of astronauts, Zhang Lu said, “I am overjoyed to be required by the nation, regardless of my age. I’m now very excited, and when I was on the space station, I often watched through the window, trying to find my motherland and hometown”.
“We will adjust our bodies as soon as possible, go back into training, and be ready for space missions in the future”, Zhang Lu continued.
According to the flight plan, the return capsule detached from Shenzhou-15’s orbiting capsule at 5:42 a.m.
The ground search team arrived at the landing site soon after the return capsule landed. The astronauts’ health was checked by medical personnel.
On November 29, 2022, China launched the manned spaceship Shenzhou-15.
The Shenzhou-15 crew, China’s oldest mission crew in terms of average age, did four extravehicular activities (EVAs), making it the Chinese crew with the most EVAs to date.
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