Astronaut Shenzhou 18 returns to Earth

Astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu have been living on the Tiangong space station since April 25. After spending 192 days in orbit, they ended their mission on November 3 and landed at the Dongfeng landing site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in northern China at 1:24 a.m. on November 4 Beijing time (0:24 p.m. 4/11 Hanoi time), according to CMSA. All three astronauts were in good health and they left the capsule at 2:14 a.m. the same day.

Before leaving the space station, commander Ye and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments during their time on the Thien Cung station, including researching ancient bacteria. They performed a national record-setting spacewalk in May and another in June to install shields to protect the station from space debris. Recently, Ye also became the first Chinese astronaut to stay longer than 365 days in space. Previously, he was a member of the Shenzhou 13 mission in 2021 – 2022.

China aims to maintain the Tiangong station 20% larger than the International Space Station (ISS), permanently inhabited and operational for at least a decade. Authorities in this country also plan to expand the station into a double T shape by adding 3 new modules. They will also launch a Hubble-like telescope into the same orbit, allowing it to dock with the Thien Cung station for maintenance and repairs.