Chinese astronauts return after successful space mission

30 June, 2012

Three Chinese astronauts returned safely after their successful 13-day space mission with rising hopes of setting up a space station by 2020 - as planned by China. The three space-persons, including a woman astronaut returned after there space mission watched by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao from the control room.

THE SHENZHOU-9 spacecraft touched down in Inner Mongolia with the ejection of a metallic parachute 10 km above the earth. The astronauts emerged from the space craft after one hour of the touchdown.

Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang (China's first woman astronaut) and Liu Yang emerged successively from the capsule. After a brief welcoming ceremony held near the capsule, the astronauts were later flown to Beijing in ambulance helicopters.

According to the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the successful rendezvous and docking between the orbiter Tiangong-1 and the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft was China’s decisive progress towards future manned space programmes of the country.

China is the leading space power in Asia, along with Japan, with India making steady progress through its various missions, including to the moon, and a planned mission to Mars in 2013.