BEIJING: China’s Shenzhou-10 spacecraft returned to Earth Wednesday, state TV footage showed, as the country completed its longest manned space mission.

The spacecraft, carrying three astronauts including China’s second woman to go into orbit, landed on Chinese soil, live footage showed, after the 15-day mission seen as another step in Beijing’s goal of building a permanent manned space station by 2020.

It landed at 8:07 am (0007 GMT) on the grasslands of north China’s Inner Mongolia region, footage showed.

Technicians quickly gathered to open the craft’s hatch though the crew did not immediately emerge.

China first sent a human into space only in 2003 and its capabilities still lag behind the US and Russia. But its programme is highly ambitious and includes plans to land a man on the moon.