China Shenzhou-17 Astronaut Jiang Xinlin after Landing in Inner Mongolia

China Shenzhou-17 Astronaut Jiang Xinlin after Landing in Inner Mongolia

Every day of the six-month stay in space was fulfilling, fascinating, and wonderful, said Shenzhou-17 astronaut Jiang Xinlin on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after returning to Earth safe and sound. 

Jiang was the last of the Shenzhou-17 crew to get out of the return capsule, after the module touched down safely at the designated Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Tuesday.

The return capsule, carrying Shenzhou-17 astronauts Tang Hongbo—the mission commander, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, landed at 17:46 Beijing Time, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

Upon landing, Jiang and the two other crew members reported their good conditions to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

"During my six-month stay in space, every day was incredibly fulfilling, fascinating, and wonderful. Now that I've returned to the embrace of the motherland, my heart is filled with excitement. I feel immensely proud of our great motherland. Moving forward, I will continue to work hard, do a good job in my recovery, and strive to return to space at an early date," he said.

After all three crew members got out of the return capsule, the ground control at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center announced the Shenzhou-17 manned mission a complete success.

Since blasting off for the Chinese space station last October, the Shenzhou-17 crew had witnessed the arrival of the Tianzhou-7 cargo spacecraft, performed two extravehicular activities, carried out 84 in-orbit experiments with more than 200 samples produced, and have brought back over 400 material samples retrieved after being exposed to space outside the station's Wentian lab module.

During their second spacewalk, the astronauts did repair work on the solar panels of the space station's core module, which had been subject to minor damage by space debris. This marked China's first-ever extravehicular repair mission.

The Shenzhou-17 spaceship, which was launched on Oct. 26 last year, initiated its journey back to Earth after separating from the space station combination at 08:43 Beijing Time (00:43 GMT) on Tuesday.

Video Credit: CCTV

Duration: 42 seconds

Release Date: April 30, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #GobiDesert #InnerMongolia #Dongfeng #Shenzhou17 #神舟十七号 #CrewSpacecraft #Taikonauts #Astronauts #HongboTang #ShengjieTang #XinlinJiang  #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video