Chinese astronauts back from six-month mission with record-setting space tasks

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship, carrying astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, touches down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 30, 2025. The three astronauts are all in good health condition, according to the China Manned Space Agency. (Xinhua/Ma Jinrui)

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft landed smoothly Wednesday in the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) declaring the mission a success.

By 2:02 p.m., the Shenzhou-19 crew, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, had all left the return capsule. They had spent 183 days in orbit and are all in good health, the CMSA said. 

The mission set a world record for the longest single-time extravehicular activities (EVAs), and witnessed two historic milestones, namely, Commander Cai Xuzhe fulfilling the most EVA tasks to date in China and the nation's first female flight engineer aboard the Tiangong space station.

Cai has carried out five EVAs in two spaceflight missions, meaning he has completed more EVAs than any other Chinese astronaut.

"Gazing at the beautiful blue planet countless times in space, I am constantly reminded that this is our shared home, one that we must all work together to protect," said the 48-year-old mission commander, sitting in a chair in front of the capsule.

Astronaut Cai Xuzhe is out of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Song Lingdong is the first post-90s Chinese astronaut to conduct EVAs.

"We have transformed the dedication and hard work of all the researchers into fruitful scientific achievements," said Song. "We are extremely proud of that."

Wang Haoze is China's first female spaceflight engineer to enter the space station.

"It feels wonderful to be home, to feel the solid ground beneath my feet once again," said Wang. "I am now confident and capable of taking on even more challenging tasks in the future."

The Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship, launched in October 2024, separated from the space station combination at 4 a.m. After undocking from Tiangong, the spacecraft executed a fast return mode, said Mao Yongjun, an expert from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

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.

The return of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship, originally scheduled for Tuesday, had been postponed due to unfavorable wind conditions at the Dongfeng landing site, according to the CMSA.

This return mission featured two technological improvements. Helicopters and search vehicles were equipped with BDS-3 terminals, thus enhancing positioning accuracy and efficiency for ground recovery, Mao said.

According to Mao, a laser meteorological radar was installed near the landing site to obtain detailed wind field data, boosting forecast accuracy from kilometers to within hundreds of meters.

Astronaut Song Lingdong is out of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Bei He)

LONGEST SPACEWALK

During the mission, the Shenzhou-19 crew completed three EVAs, setting a world duration record of nine hours for single-time EVAs, said CMSA spokesperson Lin Xiqiang at a previous press conference.

The crew successfully resolved an unexpected payload adapter jamming problem during their first EVA, ensuring the success of subsequent experiments, Lin said.

China's Feitian ("Flying in Space") extravehicular suits have demonstrated exceptional reliability, having been used for 19 EVAs since the Shenzhou-12 mission, and the most frequently worn suit has been used 17 times, according to Lin.

Lin said that the space station's robotic arms, which can be connected and "crawl" on the exterior of the space cabins due to their unique designs, enable astronauts to access all EVA areas.

Additionally, the coordination support system between space and ground has been refined to provide robust professional backing for EVA planning, real-time control, cross-system collaboration and emergency response.

Astronaut Wang Haoze is out of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

RECORD EXPERIMENTS

The Shenzhou-19 crew accomplished multiple scientific firsts aboard the space station.

For the first time globally, they achieved orbital preparation of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates using an all-optical trap, said Lin.

In Tiangong, the crew established the world's first space-based optical lattice platform for quantum simulations, with atomic temperatures cooled to tens of picokelvins, reaching an internationally leading level.

The trio has successfully bred three generations of fruit flies in orbit, collecting over four terabytes of video data documenting their growth, sleep patterns, locomotor activity and reproductive behaviors.

Upon return, researchers on the ground will analyze the samples brought back by Shenzhou-19 to study the effects of microgravity and a hypomagnetic field on living organisms.

They have participated in 88 projects spanning space life science, microgravity, fundamental physics, space materials, space medicine, and new space technologies, achieving notable results, said Lin.

The Shenzhou-19 mission generated over 102 samples of 13 types, which have been returned to Earth for in-depth analysis by scientists. These studies are expected to produce scientific outcomes in fundamental research, new materials, space radiation effects and hypomagnetic biological mechanisms.

A CMSA video clip has revealed the Shenzhou-19 crew conducting an in-orbit trial of a specialized in-cabin robot -- a pipeline inspection system. The astronauts constructed simulated pipelines of varying diameters to assess the robot's mobility, successfully demonstrating its ability to navigate through pipes of different sizes.

The pipeline inspection robot, featuring 23 degrees of freedom, draws biological inspiration from echinoderm animals like starfish and sea cucumbers, mimicking their tube feet with an innovative movement mechanism.

Equipped with an intelligent control system, it processes real-time sensor data to precisely calculate its position and location, enabling navigation through the space station's pipe network while maintaining operational safety in confined spaces.

The crew's work log recorded the human-machine collaborative experiment with an intelligent flying robot "Xiaohang" designed by the Harbin Institute of Technology.

The voice-controlled intelligent robot can assist astronauts with multiple orbital operations, including taking photos, inspections, materials management and product state examination.

During the mission, the Shenzhou-19 crew carried out tests using brainwave experiment device and the data will be used to investigate how gravity impacts the processing of visual motion information and to reveal the cognitive and neural mechanisms of human perception in microgravity.

Last November, the three Chinese astronauts connected with some Bulgarian youth via video links, sharing their space exploration experiences and answering questions about their work and life aboard Tiangong.

In December, an art exhibition themed "I Love My Motherland" took place simultaneously on the space station and in Beijing and Macao. This marked the fourth exhibition aboard Tiangong and the first to occur in both space and on Earth. The exhibition featured 75 artworks selected from over 20,000 submissions by Chinese teenagers.