(Reuters)1. Various of plane carrying three astronauts taxiing
2. Various of people waiting at airport
3. Various of Chen Dong being carried down gangway, waving hands; people applauding
4. Chen hugging his wife
5. Chen being carried to car
6. Liu Yang being carried down gangway, waving hands
7. Liu Yang hugging her children, husband
8. Liu being carried to car
9. Cai Xuzhe being carried down gangway, waving hands
10. Cai hugging his wife
11. Various of Cai being carried to car, waving hands
12. Various of people watching cars leaving
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STORYLINE:
The three Shenzhou-14 astronauts, Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, arrived in Beijing at 03:25 on Monday.
They safely returned to Earth and touched the ground at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia on Sunday night, after fulfilling a six-month mission and completing the country’s first in-orbit crew rotation with their Shenzhou-15 colleagues in space.
After about two and a half hours of flight from the landing site, the mission plane carrying the Shenzhou-14 crew landed smoothly at the Beijing Xijiao Airport.
The ground staff had prepared everything for their arrival. The leaders and members of the space station mission headquarters and the three astronauts’ family members were all at the airport awaiting their triumphant return.
The hatch door was opened, Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe, all in good shape, were carried down the gangway, accompanied by medical workers.
After half a year in space, the three are still in the stage of gravity re-adaptation, and the special soft chairs they sat on are good for their health.
Also for the sake of their health, the welcome ceremony on the spot was simple, short and warm.
They just hugged their family members before they were sent to the astronauts’ apartment aboard separate vehicles.
Their next “mission” is to enter an isolation recovery period, when they will undergo a comprehensive medical examination and health assessment, and a recuperation period has also been arranged for them.
Sitting atop a Long March-2F Y14 carrier rocket and carrying the third crew entering China’s Tianhe space station core module, the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft was launched on June 5 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
The three crew members have completed multiple tasks over the past six months, including the first in-orbit docking of two 20-ton space modules, the first time of astronauts entering the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, and the first two-hour fast autonomous docking of a cargo spaceship.
