China's space program reaches new heights with return of Shenzhou XIII crew: China Daily editorial

The nation welcomed its three heroic astronauts home on Saturday.

At 9:57 am, the reentry module carrying the astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu touched down safely at the designated Dongfeng Landing Site in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region; the three Shenzhou XIII astronauts having completed their six-month space mission.

During their time in space, they made many breakthroughs for China's space program. In terms of the mission, it was the longest so far, and Wang was first Chinese female astronaut to conduct a space walk.

The astronauts also carried out the docking of a cargo spacecraft by remotely controlling the Tianhe space station module's mechanical arm. They also successfully undocked the cargo spacecraft and docked with it again, fully demonstrating the arm’s functional ability.

From all aspects, it is fair to say that the Shenzhou XIII mission has been a success.

Even the astronauts’ return to the Earth witnessed some major breakthroughs for China’s space endeavors.

In terms of speed, it set a new record. The Shenzhou XII return capsule spent over 24 hours revolving around the Earth 11 times before returning on Sept 17, 2021. This time Shenzhou XIII shortened the orbiting time to about 9 hours, going around the Earth five times. Behind the shorter return time is the improved efficiency of the command center, which during that time has to calculate all the parameters involved, confirm them, and make strategies for the whole process.

The search and rescue team on Earth also demonstrated its enhanced capabilities. According to reports, the Dongfeng Landing Site has a search zone of tens of thousands of square kilometers, which includes desert, salt flats, as well as wetlands, which makes it challenging to pinpoint where the reentry module has landed. Yet the team finished the job of recovering the three astronauts hours earlier than expected.

Besides concluding the Shenzhou XIII mission in a safe manner, the return of the crew also signaled that the Chinese space station has finished verifying its key technologies.

To build a space station and enable astronauts to live in it for quite some time is a key step in China’s manned space missions. Since 2021, five flight missions have been launched to test and verify the key technologies of China’s space station. The sixth has now been completed, and has confirmed that the space station meets all the required standards for operation.

2022 is a key year for China's space station. Two experimental modules, two manned spaceships carrying six astronauts, and two cargo spaceships will be launched this year, pushing the construction process of China’s space station further forward.

On Jan 28, China released a white paper titled "China's Space Program: A 2021 Perspective", calling on all countries to conduct in-depth exchanges and cooperation in outer space activities on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and peaceful utilization. China always holds an open attitude towards international cooperation in space exploration. With its space station construction advancing step by step, China will make new contributions to human kind's peaceful use of the space.