THE Shenzhou-12 spaceship completed circumnavigation and radial rendezvous tests at 1:38 p.m. Thursday, and the three astronauts will start their way home.

The tests successfully verified the radial rendezvous technology, laying an important technical foundation for the following manned missions, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The spaceship will return as planned. The three astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo will begin their journey home, after living and working in the space station core module Tianhe for 90 days, the longest stay in space by Chinese astronauts, the CMSA said.

Shenzhou-12 separated from Tianhe at 8:56 a.m. Thursday.

Prior to the separation, the astronauts had completed various works, such as setting the status of the combination of the core module and the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft, sorting and downloading experiment data, and clearing and transferring supplies kept in orbit, with support from sci-tech staff on the ground, the CMSA said.

The three Chinese astronauts were sent into space onboard the Shenzhou-12 spaceship and entered Tianhe on June 17. The crew carried out extravehicular activities twice over the past 90 days. (Xinhua)