China's Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft successfully separated from a combination of space stations on Sunday, the China Manned Spaceflight Agency (CMSA) reported. The separation took place at 4:12 p.m., with astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu having already stepped off the reentry module, which landed at the Dongfeng landing pad in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
CMSA said that before the separation, the Shenzhou-18 crew completed various tasks with the help of ground personnel, such as setting the status of the space station combination, processing and transferring experimental data, and transferring remaining supplies, and then carried out handover work with the Shenzhou-19 crew, which was launched on October 30, sending three astronauts - Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze - on another six-month mission aboard the space station.
The Shenzhou-18 manned spacecraft is now autonomously orbiting the Earth at an altitude of approximately 390 kilometres above the ground. It will orbit the Earth approximately five times and separate from orbit after 7.5 hours. This mission continues the use of the "rapid return mode" first introduced by Shenzhou-13.
After lifting off from the Chinese space station, the Shenzhou-18 will go through a series of manoeuvres: braking in orbit, free gliding, reentry into the atmosphere and parachute landing. The entire process from braking to landing takes approximately 50 minutes. Currently, all astronauts are in good health and the spacecraft is operating normally. The reentry procedures are proceeding smoothly.
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