HONG KONG—A trio of Chinese astronauts landed back on Earth on Friday after three months in space, setting a record for the country’s longest stay in orbit as China pursues an ambitious space program.

China has marked a number of milestones in space this year, including sending the first component of its space station into orbit in April and the landing of a rover on Mars in May. The three taikonauts, as astronauts are known in China, have been celebrated as the country’s space achievements dovetail with an era of heightened...

HONG KONG—A trio of Chinese astronauts landed back on Earth on Friday after three months in space, setting a record for the country’s longest stay in orbit as China pursues an ambitious space program.

China has marked a number of milestones in space this year, including sending the first component of its space station into orbit in April and the landing of a rover on Mars in May. The three taikonauts, as astronauts are known in China, have been celebrated as the country’s space achievements dovetail with an era of heightened nationalism.

Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo spent three months on the module that will form the core of its Tiangong space station. In space the team worked on the construction of the space station and made two spacewalks. It also held a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping and broadcast a science lesson to schools across China to mark the beginning of a new semester in September.

Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming before leaving Earth in June.

Photo: greg baker/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The Tiangong space station is seen as China’s answer to the International Space Station, which has been host to astronauts from more than a dozen countries and is approved to operate until the end of 2024. For the past decade, China has been excluded by U.S. law from working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and its astronauts are barred from the International Space Station.

The re-entry capsule, slowed by a red and white parachute, landed Friday at the Dongfeng site in the Gobi Desert in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, where rescue teams raced to greet it.

After some safety checks, as Chinese flags flew next to the capsule, the astronauts rested on white chairs and readjusted to Earth’s conditions while being tended to by support staff.

More missions are planned for the space station’s construction in the coming months. A cargo spaceship is expected to be sent into orbit in coming weeks, while the Shenzhou-13, which will take another three taikonauts to the station, is expected to launch in October and remain in orbit for six months. The Tiangong, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Earlier Video

Two Chinese astronauts completed their first spacewalk outside China’s new Tiangong space station Sunday, the first of two scheduled during their three-month mission. Screenshot: CCTV The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

Write to Natasha Khan at natasha.khan@wsj.com