BEIJING |China
The three astronauts who accomplished China’s
first manned space docking safely returned to earth on Friday morning.
The return capsule of Shenzhou-9 spacecraft touched down in north
China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as planned.
The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft as seen after it flipped over during its landing. - Image credit: Xinhua Medical staff entered the capsule and reported the astronauts were in good condition.
While in the capsule, the astronauts reported to the
command center “We have returned, and we feel good.”
Jing Haipeng, commander of the Shenzhou-9 crew, was the first to come out of the return capsule, followed by Liu Wang and the country’s first woman astronaut Liu Yang.
Shenzhou 9 commander Jing Haipeng smiles and waves as he is assisted exiting the capsule. - Image credit: Xinhua
China's first woman in space, Liu Yang, is greeted with flowers. - Image credit: Xinhua
The three will fly to Beijing after taking physical examinations in ambulance helicopters at the landing site. Chinese leaders, including Premier Wen Jiabao, arrived at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center Friday morning to watch the return of Shenzhou-9 spacecraft.
During their almost ten day stay aboard the Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace,” the crew completed all their mission’s planned medical and science experiments and produced “valuable data,” Chen Shanguang, chief commander of the mission’s astronaut system, said.
The Shenzhou 9 crew, (from left) Liu Wang, Jing Haipeng, and Liu Yang, with some of their recovery team members, after landing in Inner Mongolia, China, following 13 days in space. - Image credit: Xinhua
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the successful mission as important advancement for his country. “This manned docking mission of Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou 9 marks a large milestone, a major breakthrough for China to master the space docking technology,” Wen said, reading from a statement. “And also, it marks a decisive step forward on China’s second step on its space strategy.”
