China astronauts return after historic mission: state TV

The descent capsule of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft was seen drifting down onto a landing in northern China's Inner Mongolia region in footage broadcast live on state-run CCTV.

All three men were all in good health after the landing on the region's open plains, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

Their return came a day after commander Zhai Zhigang made China just the third country to conduct a spacewalk, after the United States and the former Soviet Union four decades ago.

The astronauts' apparently flawless return brings a successful conclusion to a mission that has been hailed in China as a landmark in the country's quest to become a space power.

Under China's fledgling space programme, two more unmanned craft will be launched by 2010, as well as another manned spaceship with a crew of three to start work on building a lab or space station, according to state media.

After China sent its first man into space in 2003, it followed up with a two-man mission in 2005.