"Your historical feat will be remembered by the country and the people," Wen said, delivering a congratulatory note from the central authorities.

The space capsule was suspended down by a 1,000-square-meter parachute and landed on its flank at Siziwang Banner in central Inner Mongolia, where 300 search and rescue staff waited.

The taikonauts were examined by doctors and adapted themselves to the gravitation on the Earth before exiting the module. They will be taken to a hospital in the Inner Mongolian capital Hohhot for medical examination and are scheduled to fly back to Beijing on Monday for a two-week quarantine.

The three men, all born in 1966, were blasted off at 9:10 p.m. on Thursday on the country's third space crusade. China put a lone Yang Liwei in space in 2003, and sent two men, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, on a five-day journey in 2005. The successful spacewalk mission makes China the third country to master the extravehicular activity (EVA) technology following the United States and Russia.

During the spacewalk on Saturday, Zhai wore a hulking 4-million-U.S. dollar homemade Feitian space suit and spent 20 minutes outside the spacecraft. Tethered to the craft with two safety wires and a long electric cord providing oxygen and communications, he moved slowly along a set of handrails around the orbiter.