Touchdown for Chinese astronauts after six months on Tiangong space station
- After landing in Inner Mongolia, the three members of the crew return to Beijing to start the road to recovery from their mission
- Trio also have a brief moment to see their families
The Shenzhou 13 capsule landed in Inner Mongolia at around 9.56am with the probe using three parachutes to slow down from a speed of 200 metres per second to 7 metres per second as it approached the Earth.
Support teams rushed to collect debris soon after the capsule touched down at the Dongfeng landing site.
Minutes later, a medical worker entered the capsule for quick health checks as Chinese flags flew next to the capsule.
The return journey took about nine hours by using a new procedure that shortened the previous mission’s journey time of about 24 hours.
The Shenzhou 13 crew – Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu – began their mission in October last year. Their 182 days in orbit nearly doubled the previous 92-day record for China’s longest space mission set by Shenzhou 12.