Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth after six months in space

China ended its longest crewed mission in history on Saturday when three astronauts returned to Earth after more than 200 days in space.

Beijing has been sending probes to the Moon and landing a rover on Mars as part of its drive to compete with the United States.

The capsule landed in a cloud of dust, with ground crew who were clear of the landing site rushing in helicopter to reach it.

After six months in the space station, the two men and one woman returned to Earth at 10 am Beijing time.

The ground crew applauded when the astronauts reported that they were in good physical condition.

The first person to emerge from the capsule was Zhai, who was lifted into a chair by the ground crew and bundled into a blanket.

Zhai said in an interview that he was proud of his country.

The trio were sent to assemble the country's first permanent space station during the second crewed mission in October of last year.

Wang was the first Chinese woman to spacewalk last November, as she and her colleague Zhai installed space station equipment.

Zhai is a former fighter pilot who performed China's first spacewalk in 2008, while Ye is a People's Liberation Army pilot.

During their time in space, the trio have completed two spacewalks, carried out numerous scientific experiments, set up equipment and tested technologies for future construction.

The astronauts spent the past few weeks tidying up and preparing the cabin facilities and equipment for the crew of the incoming Shenzhou-14, which is expected to be launched in the coming months.

The previous record for spaceflight mission length was set last year by the Shenzhou-12 deployment.

The Chinese space station will become the normal residence for astronauts in six months.

There is a space race.

Billions of dollars have been poured into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a permanently crewed space station by 2022, and eventually sending humans to the Moon.

The country has come a long way in catching up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration.

The country's plans for its space dream have been put into overdrive.

Beijing is planning to build a base on the Moon, as well as a space station, by 2029, according to the National Space Administration.

The US banned NASA from engaging with China, which resulted in China being excluded from the International Space Station.

Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration, although the scope of that cooperation is not yet clear, despite the fact that China does not plan to use its space station for global cooperation.

NASA has said that the International Space Station could remain functional until 2030.

There will be a new year in 2022.

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