Chinese astronauts return from space station

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after six months aboard their country's newest orbital station in the longest crewed mission to date for China's ambitious space program.

The Shenzhou 13 space capsule landed in the Gobi desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia. During the mission, astronaut Wang Yaping carried out the first spacewalk by a Chinese woman.

Wang and crewmates Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu beamed back physics lessons for high school students. The trio were the second crew aboard Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace.

China launched its first astronaut into space in 2003 and landed robot rovers on the moon in 2013 and on Mars last year. The country was the third nation to launch an astronaut into space on its own after the former Soviet Union and the United States.