(Image: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features)
Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space, returned to Earth today as the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft landed safely in Inner Mongolia at 10:05 local time (02:05 GMT). The descent was slowed by parachutes, as well as rockets which fired when the capsule was 1 metre above the ground, slowing the capsule to a touchdown speed of 3.5 metres per second. Upon exiting the Shenzhou-9 capsule, Liu said "It feels so good to stand on Earth, and it feels even better to be home".
Liu and her colleagues, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, were returning from the first crewed mission to the Chinese space station, Tiangong-1, meaning "Heavenly Place". As part of their 13-day mission, the trio spent several days aboard the station, during which time they conducted a number of experiments and performed technical demonstrations required for the creation of a larger space station.
The Chinese space agency aims to use the knowledge gained during this mission to help it assemble a larger, modular space station over the next decade. A second crewed flight, Shenzhou-10, is planned for next year before China delivers its more sophisticated Tiangong-2 module to orbit. Subsequent modules will then follow. The completed station is expected to be similar in size to the now-defunct US space station Skylab, which is roughly a sixth of the size of the International Space Station.
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