Astronauts Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang landed the capsule
A Chinese space capsule carrying three crew members has returned to Earth following a 13-day mission.
Images of the capsule landing in Inner Mongolia at 10:05 local time (02:05 GMT) were shown live on television.
The astronauts, including China's first woman in space, carried out a successful manual docking with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module.
The mission is a key step towards China's goal of building a space station by 2020.
Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the mission as a "complete success".
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The mission has received blanket coverage in Chinese state media, with the landing of the space capsule in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia carried live on state TV.
Among the astronauts helped out of the acorn-shaped module was a beaming Liu Yang - the country's first female astronaut.
Unknown until a few days before this mission, she now returns to Earth as one of the most recognisable faces in China.
During their time in space, the astronauts carried the country's first manual docking operation in orbit - seen as crucial step if the country is to achieve its goal of building a space station in the next decade. Beijing has also raised the possibility that it may send a man to the moon.
China still lags far behind the space powers of Russia and the US when it comes to technological expertise. But for the moment, money and momentum are on the side of Beijing when it comes to space exploration.
"This is another outstanding contribution by the Chinese people to humanity's efforts to explore and use space," Mr Wen said in Beijing.
"It feels so good to stand on Earth, and it feels even better to be home," astronaut Liu Wang was quoted by national broadcaster CCTV as saying.
"Tiangong-1, our home in space, was comfortable and pleasant. We're very proud of our nation," female astronaut Liu Yang said.
Manual dockingThe crew of the Shenzhou-9 craft successfully carried out the country's manual docking manoeuvre earlier in the week.
The delicate procedure, which involved bringing together two orbiting vessels travelling at thousands of miles an hour, was mastered by the USSR and US space teams in the 1960s.
The crew also carried out automatic docking of the two crafts during their mission.
The three astronauts returned to the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Thursday and performed a manual separation from the space laboratory.
They touched down in Inner Mongolia's Siziwang county, with the capsule deploying a parachute to slow its approach.
All the astronauts were in good health, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. They were shown on CCTV leaving the capsule carried on chairs, smiling as they waved to supporters.
The crew included Jing Haipeng, 45, the mission commander and a veteran astronaut, Liu Yang, 33, and Liu Wang, 43, who performed the manual docking.
Ms Liu, 33, is a major in China's air force from the central province of Henan. On China's Tencent QQ messaging service, she goes by the name "little Flying Knight".
She was recruited into China's space programme only two years ago, but she excelled, the official news agency Xinhua says.
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft was launched on 16 June.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18636819#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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