China: Shenzhou-16 astronauts return to Earth after 5 months

Three Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-16 spacecraft's return capsule, made it back on Earth on Tuesday after five months in space.

Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao touched down at China's Dongfeng landing site at 8:11 am (0011 GMT). Their descent was eased by a large parachute, footage on Chinese state media, CCTV, showed. It also showed their capsule landing in the barren Gobi Desert, kicking up a cloud of orange dust.

"On-site medical supervision and insurance personnel confirmed that the astronauts are in good health," CCTV said.

"The Shenzhou-16 crewed flight mission was a complete success."  

Shenzhou-16's time in space

The three astronauts had launched into space on May 30 and were in orbit for 154 days.

They conducted scientific experiments and carried out a near eight-hour spacewalk during their time in space. Chinese news reports showed that they had successfully grown tomatoes, lettuce and green onions in space as part of their experiments.

Last week, China launched its Shenzhou-17 mission with three astronauts — reportedly China's youngest crew till date — to replace Jing, Zhu and Gui. This was the second crew change since the station was commissioned earlier this year.

China has renewed its space ambitions, in competition with the US and Russia, and aims to send a manned spacecraft to the moon by 2030.