The three astronauts who oversaw the crucial last stage of the space station's construction—commander Chen Dong and crewmates Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe—reported feeling fine in an audio interview that was broadcast on CCTV after their return to Earth.
According to CCTV, the capsule landed at the Dongfeng site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Province of north China at 8:09 p.m. (12:09 GMT), with space agency personnel describing the entire mission, which had started on June 5, as a "full success."
As seen on CCTV, all three worn-out crew members had been safely extracted from the capsule by nine o'clock.
On Wednesday, a new crew of three Chinese astronauts arrived at the space station aboard the Shenzhou-15 to take their place.
China has been working on constructing a space station for the past 30 years since receiving authorisation in 1992. It marks a turning point in Chinese space exploration and the start of a new era for space colonisation in China.
The first phase of construction on Tianhe, the largest of the station's three modules and the future residence of visiting astronauts, began in April of last year.