Tiangong Space Station crew completes successful six-month mission, returns to earth

After spending six months aboard China's Tiangong space station, three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Nov 4.

At night, a parachute slowed the descent of their capsule to a secluded landing spot in Inner Mongolia, China. At 1:24 am, the crew touched down and exited the capsule.

A key aspect of China's ambitions to lead the world in space research is the Tiangong space station, which was completed two years ago.

In recent years, the country’s space program has successfully brought back lunar rocks and landed a rover on Mars. It plans to send an astronaut to the moon by 2030, which would make it the second nation, following the United States, to accomplish this feat.

The space station crew welcomed a new three-person team last week for the most recent six-month mission. In addition to installing devices to shield the station from space debris, the next crew will perform experiments and conduct spacewalks.

As part of the Asian powerhouse's ambitious space program, China launched three astronauts, Song Lingdong, 34, a former air force pilot; Wang Haoze, 34, a spaceflight engineer; and one female commander, Cai Xuzhe, 48, into space early on Oct 30 for a six-month trip to the Tiangong space station.

This is the 14th crewed space mission for the nation.

According to an April article by the official Xinhua News Agency, a space agency official stated that Tiangong had partially lost power after debris struck the power cables of the solar wing and had repeatedly maneuvered to avoid it.

China has produced space debris, including the alleged disintegration of a rocket stage in August during the launch of the first 18 satellites for a proposed communications network similar to Starlink.

According to Xinhua, a space agency spokesperson said last week that China is in discussions to select and train astronauts from other countries to join future missions, even though only Chinese astronauts have visited the space station so far.

Several countries have sent astronauts to the International Space Station, but China is not allowed to participate in that program, largely due to US concerns about the military's role in China's space program.