Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after achieving China's most complex and longest operations in orbit, major steps forward in the country's effort to build a space station by 2020, reports AFP.

The return of the trio, including the country's first female astronaut, to a landing zone in a remote and sandy area of northern China was broadcast to a national audience on state television network CCTV.
The return capsule of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, which lifted off on June 16, hit the ground about 10:00 am (0200 GMT), after an approach slowed by a large parachute.
Rescue workers quickly surrounded and opened the capsule, which had turned on its side and looked charred on the outside.
All three astronauts were in good physical condition, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, as CCTV showed them being carried out of the capsule on chairs, smiling and waving to the cameras.
The crew had successfully carried out China's first manual space docking with the orbiting Tiangong-1 module, a difficult move that is essential in the process of building a space station -- which Beijing aims to do by 2020.

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