Three Chinese astronauts, the first sent to orbit for space station construction, completed their three-month mission and returned to Earth safely on Friday.

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship, carrying astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The three taikonauts were sent into space and entered Tianhe on June 17. The crew carried out extravehicular activities twice a day over the past 90 days, a new record of longest space stay in a single flight for Chinese astronauts.