Shenzhou-13 crew return safely to Earth after record six months in orbit

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The Shenzhou-13 crew have safely returned to Earth after their epic six-month orbital trip, which nearly doubled the previous record of China's longest single-flight space mission of 92 days set by the Shenzhou-12, some eight hours after the manned spacecraft's detachment from the Tianhe core module.

The return capsule executed touchdown around 9:56 am at the designated Dongfeng landing site in North China, and the ground rescue and recovery arrived the landing point after the feat with high precision and efficiency.

Apart from the long-term stay in space, the mission has set many records and firsts in the country's manned space history. 

The Shenzhou spacecraft developer, China Academy of Spacecraft Technology (CAST), disclosed in a statement sent to the Global Times that the Shenzhou-13 mission also explored emergency mission mechanisms for the first time, with the Shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft and Long March-2F Y14 rocket in standby position right after the launch of the Shenzhou-13 and Long March-2F Y13. This enabled a potential space rescue of the Shenzhou-13 taikonauts in case of any malfunction preventing the spacecraft from returning to Earth.

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