BEIJING (Reuters) – Three Chinese astronauts left a spacecraft module on a spacecraft bound for Earth on Thursday, completing the third of more than 10 missions needed to complete China’s first space station later this year coming.
Astronauts have abandoned the Tianhe module of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft after spending 90 days in space, a record for China, according to state media.
Construction of the space station began in April with the launch of Tianhe, a slightly larger cylinder-like module than a city bus.
The module will finally be the homes of the finished station.
Four of the total of 11 missions needed to finish building the station will have crew.
The next manned mission will last six months.
Prior to that, China will send another automated cargo spacecraft, the Tianzhou-3, to Tianhe carrying the necessary supplies for the next crew.
The Tianzhou-3 spacecraft will be launched in the near future, state media recently reported.
(Report by Ryan Woo and Liangping Gao; edited by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)