Astronauts to return to Earth after 33-day trip

Success paves the way for China's permanent space station, expected to be completed in 2022

The two Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou XI space mission have completed their monthlong stay in the Tiangong II space laboratory and will soon return to Earth.

Mission commander Jing Haipeng, 50, and Chen Dong, 37, floated out of the space lab 393 km above Earth and returned to the Shenzhou XI's re-entry capsule on Thursday morning. The Shenzhou XI spacecraft then departed Tiangong II at 12:41 pm, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement, adding that the astronauts will arrive back in China on Friday.