Two Chinese astronauts returned to Earth safely on Friday after completing China's longest-ever manned space mission as the country firmed up its plans to establish its permanent space station by 2022.

After its launch on October 17, the spacecraft docked two days later with China's first space lab, Tiangong-2, where the two astronauts lived for 30 days. The mission transported personnel and materials between Earth and Tiangong-2, and tested meeting, docking and return processes

It conducted aerospace medical experiments, space science experiments and in-orbit maintenance.


The rigorous testing helps China to firm up its plans to establish its permanent space station by 2022. By the time it will be the only the country to have such a facility in service as the current in-service International Space Station (ISS) retires by 2024.