BEIJING (AP) — Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Monday after a six-month stay on the Tiangong space station, part of China’s effort to be a global leader in space exploration.

The Shenzhou-18 crew consisting of three taikonauts returned to Earth safely in the early morning on Monday, after completing a six-month space station mission. The three taikonauts, after staying in orbit for 192 days,

The Shenzhou XVIII mission crew returned to Earth early on Monday morning, concluding a six-month mission onboard the Tiangong space station.

China's Shenzhou 18 crew are ready to return home after more than six months in space. Astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu have been living aboard the Tiangong space station since April 25 this year,

The spaceship's reentry capsule, carrying mission commander Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu and crew members Lieutenant Colonel Li Cong and Lieutenant Colonel Li Guangsu, flew for more than nine hours before touching down at 1:24 am at the Dongfeng Landing Site in the middle of the Gobi Desert in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The three men had arrived at Tiangong in late April and were joined there on October 30 by three new astronauts, two men and a woman