You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <recentchanges rccontinue="2016-02-11T16:35:51Z|4467" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <recentchanges>
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="NEA Scout" rcid="4477" pageid="3233" revid="4480" old_revid="4467" timestamp="2017-01-16T21:41:59Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="LightSail" rcid="4476" pageid="3147" revid="4479" old_revid="4456" timestamp="2017-01-16T16:37:42Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="Fridrikh Tsander" rcid="4475" pageid="3060" revid="4478" old_revid="4476" timestamp="2016-10-17T15:23:20Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="Bibliography" rcid="4474" pageid="1526" revid="4477" old_revid="4432" timestamp="2016-10-17T15:21:16Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="Fridrikh Tsander" rcid="4473" pageid="3060" revid="4476" old_revid="4475" timestamp="2016-10-17T15:15:41Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="Fridrikh Tsander" rcid="4472" pageid="3060" revid="4475" old_revid="3495" timestamp="2016-10-17T15:15:24Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="International Symposium on Solar Sailing" rcid="4471" pageid="3193" revid="4474" old_revid="4473" timestamp="2016-05-20T15:19:19Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="International Symposium on Solar Sailing" rcid="4470" pageid="3193" revid="4473" old_revid="4383" timestamp="2016-05-20T15:18:00Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="The Sunjammer Project" rcid="4469" pageid="3197" revid="4472" old_revid="4471" timestamp="2016-02-11T16:37:52Z" />
      <rc type="edit" ns="0" title="The Sunjammer Project" rcid="4468" pageid="3197" revid="4471" old_revid="4389" timestamp="2016-02-11T16:37:30Z" />
    </recentchanges>
  </query>
</api>