JIUQUAN -- The three astronauts of the Shenzhou-19 crewed mission were all out of the return capsule on Wednesday afternoon April 30, 2025, and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) declared the mission a success.
At 12:17 p.m. (Beijing Time), the Beijing Aerospace Control Center issued a return command through the ground station, and the orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-19 spaceship separated from the return capsule.
Then the brake engine ignited, and the return capsule separated from the propulsion capsule.
The return capsule touched down at 1:08 p.m. at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the CMSA said.
By 2:02 p.m., the Shenzhou-19 crew had all left the return capsule. They had spent 183 days in orbit and are all in good health, the CMSA said.
The astronauts, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze, were launched to the Tiangong space station in October, and they turned over control of the station Tuesday to the new crew that recently arrived to replace them.
The Shenzhou 20 that brought the new crew also carried equipment for space life sciences, microgravity physics, and new technology for the space station.
The Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” space station has made China a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space, especially since it was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns.
China’s space program is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party. / Xinhua / AP