China’s Shenzhou 19 astronauts return to Earth after 6 months aboard Tiangong space station (photos)

China’s three-person Shenzhou 19 mission came home on Wednesday (April 30) after six months in orbit.

The Shenzhou 19 spacecraft — carrying astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze — undocked from the Tiangong space station on Tuesday (April 29) at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT; 4 a.m. on April 30 China Standard Time), according to Chinese space officials.

The trio spent about nine hours in transit back to Earth, touching down at the Dongfeng landing site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Wednesday at about 1:08 a.m. EDT (0508 GMT; 1:08 p.m. China Standard Time). That was a day later than originally planned; the landing had been scheduled for Tuesday, but mission planners pushed it back due to windy weather at Dongfeng.

The Shenzhou 19 astronauts had been in space since Oct. 29, when they launched toward Tiangong. And they notched some notable milestones during that stretch.

For example, Cai, who was Shenzhou 19’s commander, and Song spent more than nine hours outside Tiangong during a mid-December spacewalk, setting a new record for the longest extravehicular activity.

The duo installed a new space debris shield on Tiangong during the super-long spacewalk. Cai and Song also conducted spacewalks on Jan. 20 and March 21, installing more shielding and inspecting extravehicular systems and equipment.

The Shenzhou 19 astronauts also performed 86 scientific experiments during their time in orbit. One of those projects placed a brick made from lunar soil simulant on Tiangong’s exterior, to see how it holds up in the space environment. The results could help China plan out a moon base, which it intends to build with international partners in the 2030s.

Shenzhou 19 was the second spaceflight for Cai; he also flew to Tiangong on Shenzhou 14 in 2022. Song and Wang were spaceflight rookies.

The Shenzhou 19 crew was China’s youngest to date. Cai is 48, and both Song and Wang — currently the nation’s only female spaceflight engineer — were born in 1990.

The trio welcomed the three-person Shenzhou 20 mission to Tiangong on April 24 and officially handed the keys to the station over to the newcomers during a change-of-command ceremony on April 27.

China finished assembling the three-module Tiangong, which is about 20% as massive as the International Space Station, in November 2022. Shenzhou 19 was the eighth crewed mission to the orbiting lab.