BEIJING (Reuters) - Three Chinese astronauts left a space station module on Thursday on a spacecraft bound for Earth, completing the third of more than 10 missions needed to finish China's first space station by the end of next year.
The astronauts have left the Tianhe module on the Shenzhou-12 probe 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 cylinder-like module slightly bigger than a city bus.
The module will eventually be the living quarters of the completed station.
The Tianzhou-3 spacecraft will be launched in the near future, state media said recently.
Three astronauts who lived for 90 days on China's space station departed Thursday in preparation for returning to Earth.
The national space agency said Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo boarded the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft and undocked from the space station at 8:56 a.m.
Three Chinese astronauts have completed the country's longest crewed mission and started their journey home on Thursday after 90 days at the Tiangong space station conducting spacewalks and scientific experiments.
The first all-civilian flight to orbit will act as a proof of concept for SpaceX and the broader private spaceflight industry, which wants to send many more people to space in the coming years and decades.The latest: SpaceX has completed fueling the Falcon 9 rocket.
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