Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after six months in space in the longest crewed mission to date for the country's space program, AP reports.
Driving the news: The Shenzhou 13 space capsule landed in the Gobi desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia on Saturday after 183 days in space, per Reuters.
- Astronaut Wang Yaping also completed the first spacewalk by a Chinese woman.
The big picture: China launched its first astronaut into space in 2003 and landed rovers on the moon in 2013 and on Mars.
- The crew that returned on Saturday was the second crew aboard Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace.
- Its core module, Tianhe, was launched in April 2021, per AP.
What to watch: Authorities have yet to announce a date for launching the next Tiangong crew.
Go deeper: China launches Tianhe module of new space station