BEIJING, Sept 28: Three Chinese astronauts returned safely to Earth on Sunday after making the country’s first spacewalk, with a hero’s welcome awaiting the men whose exploits captivated the nation.

The formal welcome will have to wait for up to two weeks, however, as the astronauts are due to be quarantined for medical and other checks that are now routine for Chinese astronauts, Xinhua said on Sunday.

The descent capsule of the Shenzhou VII mission was seen on state television drifting gently down under a giant red-and-white parachute to an empty plain in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region.

Cheers erupted at mission control as the capsule touched down around 5:40pm local time (0940 GMT).

Mission commander Zhai Zhigang had etched his name in the history books of this country of 1.3 billion people with a 15-minute walk in space on Saturday that set another milestone in China’s transformation into a global power.

“The mission was glorious and full of challenges but the result was perfect. I feel proud of my country,” Zhai told a television crew that arrived at the touchdown site.

Zhai, 41, was watched on television by countless millions around the globe as his spacewalk vaulted China into ranks of the United States and the former Soviet Union as the only nations to complete a spacewalk.

During the manoeuvre, Zhai had floated outside the module holding the Chinese flag — a moment of great drama and symbolism just days before the 50th anniversary of the US space agency NASA on Wednesday — which is also China’s National Day.

Premier Wen Jiabao watched from Beijing’s Aerospace Control Centre, applauding as the capsule landed, ending its 68-hour mission.

He later told mission control’s dozens of technicians the mission was “a victory for China’s space and technological” programmes.

“Your historical feat will be remembered by the country and the people,” he said.

In a televised chat on Saturday with Zhai live from mission control, President Hu Jintao had praised the spacewalk as a “breakthrough”.

China was mired in political chaos, poverty and isolation when the Americans and Soviets made the first spacewalks, back in the 1960s heyday of their space race, and the Shenzhou VII mission has stirred deep emotions among Chinese.

Tethered to the craft with two safety wires, Zhai retrieved a test sample of a solid lubricant placed outside the orbital module during the spacewalk.

The modest drill was intended to replicate the type of task that future spacewalkers will have to perform.

During the excursion, Zhai wore a Chinese-made space-suit that also has been touted as a breakthrough in China’s technical capacity.

As part of China’s space programme, two more unmanned craft will be launched by 2010.—-AFP