Experts speak highly of China's successful Shenzhou-13 mission

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Foreign media and space experts have paid particular attention to China's successful Shenzhou-13 manned mission after three Chinese astronauts completed their six-month space station stay and returned to Earth safely on Saturday.

The experts highlighted the astronauts' work in space, including two spacewalks, more than 20 science experiments and two live educational lectures. They also expressed expectations for future cooperation with China.

Philippe Coue, a French specialist in Chinese astronautics, described the mission as "faultless" in an interview with Xinhua on Saturday.

Noting several "world firsts" were completed and numerous experiments conducted during their half-year flight, he extended his "congratulations to the crew for advancing astronautics in China."

As for the educational lectures delivered from the Tiangong space station, Molly Silk, a doctoral researcher of Chinese space policy at the University of Manchester in England, told the Space.com news website that the real-time interactive event "highlights the reality of the country's technological achievements and displays the competencies and utility of its space program."

"Such an event serves to enhance national pride and to encourage young citizens to pursue science-based careers," she said.

The Shenzhou-13 crew has completed the longest-ever spaceflight in Chinese history, marking the last flight mission to verify critical technologies of the Chinese space station and an important milestone in China's space industry, said Pui Jeng Leong, a media veteran in Brunei, adding it lays a solid technology foundation for further building the Tiangong station.

"China has made such incredible advances, and I just enjoy watching their developments and hope to see us all working together more in the future," Don Thomas, a retired NASA astronaut, recently told Xinhua.

Despite the political divergence between countries, Thomas believes that astronauts from different countries share the same identity -- space travelers from Earth.

"It would be my goal that definitely all the space-exploring countries of the world can work together on some projects in the future, maybe building a joint base on the moon or a base on planet Mars," Thomas said.