JIUQUAN -- China's Shenzhou XXI and Shenzhou XXIII astronaut crews held a handover ceremony on Thursday, during which the Shenzhou?XXI crew transferred the keys of the country's space station to the latter.

The Shenzhou?XXI crew has now completed all planned tasks. The three astronauts will take the Shenzhou XXII spacecraft and return to the Dongfeng landing site in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region in the coming few days, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

At present, final preparations are in full swing across all participating systems and the landing site in readiness to welcome the trio back.