Chinese astronauts return with 34.6 kg of space samples after 192-day mission

Three Chinese astronauts brought home 34.6 kilograms (76 pounds) of space samples, state media reported on Monday.

The arrival of the samples in Beijing marks the seventh batch of scientific experimental samples from China's Tiangong space station.

The samples include 28 experiments on space life sciences and space material sciences.

The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft, carrying Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, landed at around 1.24 am local time (1724GMT Sunday) at the Dongfeng landing site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region early Monday.

The crew spent 192 days in space since April 25. Before holding a media briefing, they will undergo quarantine and extensive medical check-ups, which could take months.

The trio handed over space station operations to the three-member crew of Shenzhou-19, which was launched on Oct. 30.

Conducting two spacewalks, they also utilized the scientific experiment cabinets and extravehicular payloads to carry out dozens of experiments in the fields of basic physics in microgravity, space material science, space life science, space medicine and space technology.

According to the China Manned Space Agency, their first spacewalk in May set a new record for the longest single spacewalk by Chinese astronauts.

They also replaced burner for the gas experiment in the combustion experiment cabinet and test samples in the fluid physics experiment cabinet as planned.

Shenzhou-18 Commander Ye became the first Chinese astronaut, locally known as taikonaut, to spend over 365 days in space, having previously been part of the Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022.