China’s Shenzhou-10 spacecraft returns to Earth—state TV

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua news agency, the Long March-2F rocket carrying China’s manned Shenzhou-10 spacecraft blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China’s Gansu Province, Tuesday, June 11, 2013. AP

BEIJING – China’s Shenzhou-10 spacecraft returned to Earth Wednesday, state TV footage showed, as the country completed its longest manned space mission.

The spacecraft, carrying three astronauts including China’s second woman to go into orbit, landed on Chinese soil, live footage showed, after the 15-day mission seen as another step in Beijing’s goal of building a permanent manned space station by 2020.

It landed at 8:07 am (0007 GMT) on the grasslands of north China’s Inner Mongolia region, footage showed.

Technicians quickly gathered to open the craft’s hatch though the crew did not immediately emerge.

China first sent a human into space only in 2003 and its capabilities still lag behind the US and Russia. But its programme is highly ambitious and includes plans to land a man on the moon.

Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rising global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party’s success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.