China plans to establish a base on the Moon.
Three Chinese taikonauts successfully returned to Earth on Monday after spending six months aboard the Tiangong space station, or “Heavenly Palace.”
The crew of the Shenzhou 18 mission landed safely in Inner Mongolia, northern China, as reported by the state news agency Xinhua. The crew had launched in late April, conducting station maintenance, scientific experiments, and, in May, completed China’s longest-ever spacewalk.
A new three-member crew arrived at the space station in late October to continue their work.
Beijing has heavily invested in its space program, aiming to land astronauts on the Moon and build a lunar base by 2030. In June, China made history when its Chang’e 6 probe became the first to return samples from the Moon’s far side.
