Three Chinese astronauts return after record six months in space

Published on: 04/16/2022 – 13:24Modified on: 04/16/2022 – 13:27 The three astronauts of the Shenzhou-13 mission returned to Earth on Saturday after six months in the Chinese space station. It is China’s longest stay in space, state broadcaster CCTV said. It is the longest stay ever made by China in space: the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-13 mission returned to Earth on Saturday April 16, after six months spent in the Chinese space station. This is another successful step for Beijing in its ambitious space program to catch up with the United States, Europe and Russia. The crew landed shortly before 10:00 a.m. (2:00 GMT) in the Inner Mongolia desert in northern China. “The return capsule from Shenzhou-13 has landed successfully,” state broadcaster CCTV said. CCTV live footage showed the capsule landing in a cloud of dust. Ground crews, who had kept away from the landing site, rushed in helicopters to reach the capsule. The astronauts, much applauded, took turns declaring that they felt “good”. With 183 days in space, the crew smashes the previous national record for a stay in space, which was 92 days and had been established in 2021 during the previous manned mission, Shenzhou-12.Tiangong station soon to be completedThe crew of the Shenzhou-13 mission consisted of three army pilots: commander Zhai Zhigang, 55, his colleague Wang Yaping, 42 years old, and the youngest Ye Guangfu, 41 years old, whose first spaceflight it was.”Six-month stays are common, whether for (the former Russian-Soviet station) Mir or for the International Space Station (ISS),” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the United States. “The goal (with Shenzhou-13) was not in itself to establish a record but to develop the skills necessary for a permanent occupation of the station”, the final objective of China, he explains.> > To review: What are China’s ambitions in space? Named in Chinese Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”) but also known by its English acronym CSS (for “Chinese Space Station” in French), it should be completed by by the end of 2022. Similar in size to Mir, its lifespan should be about fifteen years. An analysis of the state of health of the astronauts of Shenzhou-13 will allow China to learn more about the Impact of Prolonged Absence of Gravity on Organisms. In six months, the crew also continued the construction of the station, led two courses on the Internet for Chinese schoolchildren, carried out experiments and refined their mastery of long-term stays. “For example, they have improved their maintenance skills, through spacewalks and manipulations of the robotic arm” of the station, explains Chen Lan, analyst of the GoTaikonauts.com site, specializing in the Chinese space program. Shenzhou-13 was “not a significant breakthrough,” but “the completion of CSS later this year will be a very significant event,” he said. Next steps for construction: sending a cargo ship in May and then another manned mission, Shenzhou-14, which should be launched in June. The last two space station modules are to be sent from July. They will take the direction of space from the launch center of Wenchang, located on the tropical island of Hainan (south) and whose Chinese President, Xi Jinping, declared, Thursday, to want to make it a site “of world class “. From Shenzhou-14, the CSS should be permanently occupied. An additional advance for the Chinese space program Once poor, China has been investing billions of euros in its space program for several decades. The Asian giant sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. Since then, he has achieved some remarkable feats, especially in recent years. China landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon in early 2019, a world first . In 2020, it brought back samples from the Moon and finalized Beidou, its satellite navigation system competing with American GPS. In 2021, it landed a small robot on Mars and plans to send men to the Moon by 2030. China’s ambition to build its own station has been fueled by the US refusal to accept Chinese in the ISS, program piloted by NASA. This did not prevent the crew of Shenzhou-13 from discussing, last week, with 150 young people, parents and American teachers gathered at the initiative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington. A meeting during which was broadcast a video message from the boss of the American company SpaceX, Elon Musk, who called on “humanity to work together” for the conquest of space.