China's Shenzhou 16 crew members, who've been in the orbiting Tiangong space station for nearly five months, are scheduled to return to Earth after their handover with the Shenzhou 17 crew. Now, let's follow CGTN's Zheng Yibing for the highlights of their mission.
Shenzhou-16 is the first manned mission since China's space station entered the application and development stage. The three crew members are commander Jing Haipeng, spaceflight engineer Zhu Yangzhu, and science payload specialist Gui Haichao.
The three were sent into China's Tiangong space station on May 30 to take over the orbital outpost from their Shenzhou 15 peers who had been aboard for six months. Their mission is China's 11th manned space mission and the fifth crewed flight to Tiangong.
ZHENG YIBING, Beijing "During their mission, the Shenzhou 16 crew conducted multiple key tasks, including large-scale in-orbit tests and experiments and a space lecture to students on earth."
More specifically, they worked with researchers on the ground on a number of in-orbit experiments, including fluid physics experiments and cold atom interferometer set-up. And they carried out extravehicular activities, installed extravehicular payloads and conducted space station maintenance.
The crew members gave a science lecture from space in September to students around the globe. This marked the fifth lecture of the Tiangong class series since 2013.
The journey of the Shenzhou 16 crew is the maiden flight of China's third generation of astronauts or known as taikonauts. Therefore, it has very great significance to China's manned space program. Zheng Yibing, CGTN, Beijing.
