Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Tuesday morning after six months aboard China’s orbiting space station. Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao emerged in good health from the return capsule near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The station’s new three-person crew arrived to the Tiangong station last week.

China built its own space station after it was excluded from the International Space Station, largely due to US concerns over Chinese military control over the national space program. The station is essentially complete, so the new crew will conduct medical and scientific experiments and maintain equipment. The country carried out its first crewed space mission in 2003.