Three astronauts return to Earth after six months on China’s space station

Chinese astronauts Wang Haoze, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China in October (Ng Han Guan/AP)

Three Chinese astronauts have landed back on Earth after six months on China’s space station.

The crew’s landing module came down slowly after separating from the return vehicle, descending on a red-and-white parachute, in Dongfeng, in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region on the edge of the Gobi Desert.