China;s first female Astronaut Liu Yang

China’s Shenzhou-9 spacecraft  returned to Earth with its three crew members following a 13-day mission today including China’s first female Astronaut Liu Yang,

State television showed images of the capsule landing in Inner Mongolia at 1005 local time (0205 GMT).

The Astronauts  automatically and manually docked  the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft to the orbiting Tiangong 1 space module. The docking represents an important milestone, and the accomplishment of a key capability, on the Chinese roadmap towards establishing Space Station towards the end of the decade.