Two Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a month-long stay aboard the space station module prototype. China has completed the sixth and the longest manned space flight.

Dropping to the Ground on a large orange-and-white parachute, the capsule of the crew of "Shenzhou-11" landed just after 1 am Moscow time. The doctors reached the spacecraft within a few minutes to help returning astronauts out of the cramped capsules.

The doctors surrounded the descent module after landing, quickly opening the top hatch. Chinese TV has been cut off from the landing site, before it was retrieved the commander Ching Haipeng and flight engineer Chen Dong, but the mission leaders reported that the crew healthy. "The astronauts, according to the commander of the landing, "Shenzhou 11" successfully landed, and two astronauts are in good shape," said Zhang Call, the commander of the space program in China.

The spacecraft "Shenzhou" can accommodate three crew members. But China has decided to send a monthly mission only 2 crew and additional supplies, instead of a third astronaut.

China plans to launch unmanned cargo ship, Tianzhou-1, next spring, to autonomously dock with Tiangong-2. As Russian spaceship "Progress", Tianzhou-1 would be to transfer rocket fuel on Wednesday to demonstrate critical technology necessary for the installation and maintenance of the space station.
sections: Politics, World News