China’s Shenzhou-17 threesome returned to Earth today, parachuting safely into the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Shenzhou-17 crew members, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, rocketed into Earth orbit last October, living and working aboard China’s space station for nearly a half-year.
A well-rehearsed armada of search and rescue teams made use of aircraft, and related hardware to quickly handle the Shenzhou-17 landing.
In-orbit handover
Last week, China launched the Shenzhou-18 piloted spacecraft, sending three more astronauts — Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu — to the country’s space station for another six-month mission. That trio entered the station and met with the Shenzhou-17 crew on Friday for an in-orbit crew handover within the station’s Tianhe core module.

China Shenzhou-17 crew member engaged in EEG testing.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
According to China’s CGTN, the just-landed Shenzhou-17 crew carried out 84 in-orbit experiments and tests for space application, producing more than 200 samples in multiple fields such as space life science and biotechnology, space medicine, and space material science.
For videos featuring the Shenzhou-17 crew landing, go to:
https://youtu.be/Jss009M_5xA?si=JSXsLIcGAbcqj5hs
Image credit: CCTV