China's Shenzhou 8 spacecraft landed in north China Thursday, after completing the country's first-ever space docking mission.
The spacecraft's re-entry module parachuted down at a landing site in Siziwang Banner (county) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at around 7:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m. CST, 1130 GMT) on Nov. 17, marking the end of the space docking mission.
Launched Nov. 1 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Shenzhou 8 rendezvoused and docked with the Tiangong-1 space lab module two days later.
The joint vehicles orbited Earth for 12 days and conducted another docking after a brief separation on Nov. 14.
The Tiangong-1, which lifted off from the Jiuquan launch center on Sept. 29, will remain in orbit to await future docking attempts with the Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in 2012.
At least one of the two missions will take astronauts into space, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program.