Three astronauts left the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module on Tuesday morning after a 12-day stay.

The three astronauts returned to the Shenzhou-X spacecraft after closing the module's hatch at 5:07 am.

The crew is scheduled to carry out more experiments before they return to earth on Wednesday.

The Shenzhou-X spacecraft blasted off from northwestern China on June 11. The 15-day mission is the country's fifth manned space mission.