The Shenzhou XII spacecraft departed China's Tiangong space station on Thursday morning,(carry) three Chinese astronauts on a journey back to Earth, the China Manned Space Agency said.
It said in a brief statement that the spacecraft left the station's core module(核心舱) at 8:56 am and started to orbit Earth its own. Before their departure, the astronauts transmitted some experimental data back to ground control and arranged materials inside the station, the agency said. By Thursday morning, the crew (be) in space for 91 days, almost three times longer than the Shenzhou XI mission, saw Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong spend 33 days in orbit. Shenzhou XII (launch) on a Long March 2F carrier rocket that blasted off on June 17 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The astronauts entered Tiangong later that day, becoming first inhabitants of the station. Their work was expected to enable the China Manned Space Agency (accumulate) experience and check the capability, performance and compatibility of systems involved in the space station program to prepare for the next steps in its construction.
During the mission, the astronauts carried out two extravehicular activities, or spacewalks, using a large robotic arm and other (equip) to install and adjust devices outside the station. They also performed a number of (science) experiments and technological tests, which laid an important technical foundation for the following manned missions. After living in the space station core module Tianhe for 90 days, the spaceship returned as (plan).
