Chinese astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu successfully completed their mission on China’s Tiangong space station, landing at Dongfeng landing pad in northern China on Monday.
All three astronauts are in good health, according to the China Manned Space Agency. It was the second time the astronauts landed overnight at Dongfeng. Surveillance and search and rescue teams used infrared thermal imagers to track the capsule.
During their stay aboard the Tiangong space station, the astronauts of the Shenzhou-18 mission crew conducted a number of scientific experiments, including the study of ancient microbes. They also performed a national record spacewalk in May and installed space debris shielding in June. Commander Ye Guangfu became the first Chinese astronaut to spend a total of 365 days in space, including his previous Shenzhou-13 mission in 2021-2022.
The trio also conducted emergency drills and shot video from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert and Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island, from where they launched in April and launched the station modules respectively.
Astronauts welcomed the arriving Shenzhou-19 crew aboard the station on October 30, for a short time China had six in space. The commander officially handed over control of the orbital station to Shenzhou-19 commander Cai Xuzhe on November 1, marking China’s fifth such orbital transition since the completion of the three-module space station at the end of 2022.
China plans to keep Tiangong permanently occupied and operational for at least a decade. Officials recently unveiled plans to expand the space station to a double-T shape by adding three new modules. In addition, China intends to send a Hubble Space Telescope into the same orbit, allowing it to dock with Tiangong for maintenance and repair.
