Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth

Commander Jing Haipeng (centre) leaves the capsule. Pic/AP

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Tuesday morning after six months aboard China's orbiting space station. Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao emerged in good health from the return capsule near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The station's new three-person crew arrived to the Tiangong station last week.

China built its own space station after it was excluded from the International Space Station, largely due to US concerns over Chinese military control over the national space program. The station is essentially complete, so the new crew will conduct medical and scientific experiments and maintain equipment. The country carried out its first crewed space mission in 2003.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever