3 crew leave China’s space station for Earth after 90 days
By SAM MCNEIL
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — China says three astronauts who lived on its space station for 90 days have left 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 Thursday morning. State broadcaster CCTV aired footage of the astronauts securing packages inside their spacecraft, which is due to parachute to a location in the Gobi Desert on Friday. Before they left, the trio prepared the station to operate without a crew. The government hasn’t said when the next crew will be launched.
