Return to Earth today for the three astronauts from the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) who left last June for the Tiangong space station.

Their three-month mission, named Shenzhou-12, was the longest ever carried out in space by China. Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo left the Gobi desert on June 17.

The capsule with the astronauts landed via a parachute in the Gobi desert at 13:35 local (7:35 in Italy). "The manned spacecraft Shenzhou-12 landed successfully," the state network CCTV reported in a live broadcast dedicated to the event.

"Real gold does not fear fire," Nie Haisheng joked, quoting a Chinese proverb, with one of his teammates during the re-entry phase.

(Unioneonline / vl)

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