Completed 183-day mission; Chinese astronauts on Earth | Completed 183-day mission; Chinese astronauts on Earth

BEIJING: Three astronauts have returned to Earth after completing a long mission at the Chinese space station. The crew, consisting of two men and a woman, returned after a 183-day space mission. The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft carrying Wang Yaping, Shai Shigong and Yi Guangfu arrived before 10 a.m. local time. They left for the Tiangong space station in China last October for construction work. Six months were spent on the Tiangor module, the main part of the plant.

Wang Yaping, 42, became the first Chinese woman to walk in space. Shen Shou-13’s mission commander, former fighter pilot, Shai Shigong, was China’s first manned spaceflight in 2008. Yi Guangfu is also a pilot in the Liberation Army.