Dongfeng Landing Site, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China - April 25, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of vehicles ready to welcome return of Shenzhou-19 astronauts
2. Aerial shots of vehicles heading to standby point
3. Various of helicopters flying over; pilot in cockpit; search, rescue team members on board
4. Various of search, rescue team members, vehicles, helicopters conducting comprehensive drill; simulated return capsule on ground

The Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is ready to welcome the return of the Shenzhou-19 crew upon completion of a six-month mission aboard China's space station Tiangong in orbit.

To ensure search and rescue readiness, a final comprehensive drill was conducted at the Dongfeng landing site earlier Friday.

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft, carrying three astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze, is scheduled to touch down at the Dongfeng landing site on April 29.

At around 10:00 on Friday, nearly 100 vehicles were deployed to support the ground search and rescue operations.

By 14:30, after receiving information on the landing location of the return capsule from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, five helicopters from the air unit executed precision landings around the location and promptly carried out operations following established procedures.

At 14:45, upon the arrival of the ground search and rescue team, operations including simulating the opening of the hatch and lifting the astronauts out of the capsule were carried out.

The search and rescue team members responded swiftly and executed the tasks meticulously, ensuring that all operations, from the timing of the astronauts exiting the capsule to their adaptation to the external environment and the transfer process, were conducted with absolute safety.

According to the plan, the entire return and landing process of the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft is expected to take about 50 minutes.

At present, all personnel and equipment at the Dongfeng landing site are ready to be deployed to support the search and rescue operations.

On Thursday, a Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-20 manned spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The three astronauts on Shenzhou-20 entered the Tiangong space station and met with the Shenzhou-19 crew later on, beginning a new round of in-orbit crew handover. The six crew members then had group pictures taken for the sixth space get-together in China's aerospace history. They will live and work together for about five days to complete planned tasks and handover work.