Astronauts Nie Haisheng, center, Liu Boming, right, and Tang Hongbo wave during a departure ceremony before boarding the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft on a Long March-2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China, in this June 17 file photo. The three astronauts have completed the country's longest crewed mission and started their journey home Sept. 16, after 90 days at the Tiangong Space Station conducting spacewalks and scientific experiments. AFP-Yonhap
Astronauts Nie Haisheng, center, Liu Boming, right, and Tang Hongbo wave during a departure ceremony before boarding the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft on a Long March-2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China, in this June 17 file photo. The three astronauts have completed the country’s longest crewed mission and started their journey home Sept. 16, after 90 days at the Tiangong Space Station conducting spacewalks and scientific experiments. AFP-Yonhap


Astronauts Nie Haisheng, center, Liu Boming, right, and Tang Hongbo wave during a departure ceremony before boarding the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft on a Long March-2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China, in this June 17 file photo. The three astronauts have completed the country's longest crewed mission and started their journey home Sept. 16, after 90 days at the Tiangong Space Station conducting spacewalks and scientific experiments. AFP-Yonhap

China’s returning “space heroes” emerged from their capsule and waved to the waiting cameras after their successful return Friday after 90 days working aboard the country’s Tiangong Space Station.

Speaking to a CCTV journalist at the landing site, Commander Nie Haisheng said he believed there would be more Chinese astronauts to follow their achievements, who would “set new records and reach new heights” in space travel.

The three astronauts who spent a record three months on China’s Tiangong Space Station landed safely after completing a journey that set a milestone in the country’s ambitious space program. “We all feel great,” Nie told the Beijing Command Centre before leaving the capsule.

Quoting a Chinese proverb, Nie joked with his fellow astronauts that “real gold fears no fire” before their capsule was engulfed in flames as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, broadcast live by state television CCTV.

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said the re-entry capsule landed at the designated Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia, northern China at 1.34pm (Beijing time) Friday.

The astronauts’ safe return to Earth was the top trending topic on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, with 290 million hits in the first 30 minutes after their landing. Thousands of China’s online community posted messages of support, welcoming back the country’s three “space heroes,” as they are often called.

Liu Boming, who turned 55 the same day, said it was “the most unforgettable birthday” of his life. “The universe is vast and beautiful, and it is fascinating to fly to the sky. Taking a spacewalk on our own space station in China is my fortune, giving me great happiness,” he said.

Tang Hongbo, the youngest of the crew, said he wanted to tell his parents “Dad, Mum, I’m back!” as he had dearly missed his family and friends.

The ground rescue team’s helicopter arrived at the landing site within minutes of the touchdown, with “Warrior” all-terrain vehicles close behind. After an inspection of the capsule’s condition, it was opened with medical personnel on hand to conduct a preliminary health check. Each of the crew was assigned two doctors.

This was the astronauts’ first trip to and from the space station. During their three-month stay, they conducted tests, performed maintenance and went on spacewalks. Nie and crew members Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo spent 90 days in space.

A source from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre said the astronauts had also brought back samples from the experiments they conducted during their 90-day mission. “While all the data were transmitted before they left the space station, we still need the samples for further analysis,” the source said.

He said that after medical check-ups and quarantine the astronauts would meet the next batch of astronauts who are scheduled to head for the space station on the Shenzhou-13 mission, scheduled for early October.

“The returning pioneers will pass their experiences and brief the successors on the things to note. These are very valuable first-hand experiences for the next batch of astronauts to perform their duty.”

Their return came just two days after President Xi Jinping inspected a People’s Liberation Army space base in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Wednesday, and called for better protection of China’s space assets.

The astronauts, together with their re-entry capsule, were transported to Dongfeng Space City at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert ― where they began their space journey three months ago ― and will now undergo a period of quarantine.

The return mission began at around 2 p.m., Thursday, after they completed radial rendezvous tests, laying an important technical foundation for the other manned missions that will follow.

The landing process started at about 12.45 p.m. Friday when the orbit module detached from the return capsule, followed by the propulsion compartment’s detachment at about 1.10 p.m. before it entered the atmosphere.

They came back from 393km (245 miles) above the Earth at a speed of 7.9 km (4.9 miles) per second. The re-entry capsule experienced extreme heat and violent shocks when it entered the atmosphere at such high speed, leaving deep scars on its surface.

To lighten the load on the parachute, the special heat-resistant bottom of the capsule was detached at around 10km above the ground to slow the descent.

Sun Jun, deputy director of the Shenzhou Flight Control Center, told state broadcaster CCTV that the Beidou global positioning system enabled new predictive guidance and self-adjustment systems to be deployed on the return trip, for better control of the re-entry capsule as it entered the communication blackout zone.

The blackout during the spacecraft’s re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere is caused by an envelope of ionized air around the craft, caused by the extreme heat. On this return trip, the blackout period lasted for about six minutes.

Chinese diplomats rushed to praise the three astronauts’ achievement on Western social media platforms. In response to a tweet from foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announcing the landing of the return capsule, Zhang Heqing, cultural counsellor at China’s embassy in Pakistan, tweeted: “So proud of my motherland, great China! So happy to live in the new era. We’re fully confident to move ahead for the rejuvenation of our nation.”

Quentin Parker, head of the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong, said the “flawless” return showed China’s latest technological capability and the great potential for the world’s space powers to work together.

“This is an extremely exciting time. The successful return of Shenzhou-12 in China happened right after Space-X sent four civilians to orbit. Can you imagine what we can accomplish if all the world’s space powers can come together?”


China’s Tiangong astronauts return with vision of ‘new heights’ in space travel
Source: Buhay Kapa PH