Beijing  - Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou 7 returned safely Sunday to Earth after a three-day trip into space that included China's first ever spacewalk.

The three taikonauts on board touched down safely near the planned landing site in the northern Chinese province of Inner Mongolia at 5:38 pm (0938 GMT) as the capsule's descent by parachute was carried live on Chinese state television, ending a 68-hour mission.

The craft withstood the dangerous re-entry into Earth's atmosphere well, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The taikonauts were also in good health, Xinhua reported, citing ground control officials in Beijing. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was present in the ground control centre to watch the landing.

Commander Zhai Zhigang was the first ever Chinese person to conduct a spacewalk on Saturday.

Shenzhou 7 also placed a small satellite into orbit.

Late Saturday, China's manned space programme spokesman Wang Zhaoyao disclosed that a fire alarm had gone off during the Saturday spacewalk, but that it was a false alarm due to a sensor error.

"We were quite nervous when the astronaut in the re-entry module reported the fire alarm," he told reporters.

But he said officials "became quite relaxed" when they realized the fire alarm was in the orbital module which was "opened to the vacuum of outer space and no air was there to ignite the flame."

Shenzhou 7 is the latest stage of China's plan to build an integrated ground-space network for space exploration and manned space research, including a permanent space laboratory by 2020.

It first sent an astronaut into space five years ago. (dpa)