China's Shenzhou 14 astronauts return to Earth after helping build Tiangong space station

The astronauts from China took over the control of the space station.

At around 7 a.m. on Sunday, the return capsule from the mission was ready to land in the Gobi Desert. About nine hours after leaving the space station, the country's newly completed space station is expected to arrive.

There are stunning photos of Earth, the moon and more taken by the Chinese astronauts.

The first image of two.

The three astronauts radioed that they were feeling fine after landing, and the message was greeted with applause at the Beijing flight control center.

Before leaving, the crew played their part in the country's first crew handover, with the new Wentian and Mengtian modules added to the core module. It was the first time that China had six people in space at the same time.

The trio sent home stunning images of the Earth and moon during their half year in space. They were involved in five rendezvous and docking maneuvers, which included the arrival of new freighters and craft, as well as the relocation of Wentian and Mengtian modules to their permanent docking ports.

The crew left the completed and fully operational, three-module, T-shaped Tiangong space station after they reached the solo Tianhe module.

It is China's longest mission so far at 182 days. A new Chinese record for total time in space has been set by the commander of the mission. The prototype for the larger Tiangong modules was a prototype for the 33 days that Chen spent on the Tiangong 2 test space lab.

The first two crewed missions to Tiangong consisted of the Tianhe core module and the third was called Shenzhou 14. The first crewed visit to the area took place in June of 2021.

The new mission will last around six months. The next mission is already underway at the satellite launch center. According to China's official space news outlet, there is a chance of an emergency launch to the space station in the event of a malfunction.

The International Space Station is larger than the completed Tiangong station.

The country plans to keep the space station operational for at least a decade and could see commercial missions, international astronauts and even tourist visits in the future.

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