SHANGHAI  Three Chinese astronauts returned safely to earth in their space capsule late Sunday afternoon after spending nearly three days in low orbit and completing the nation’s first spacewalk, Chinese state television said.

The re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft floated down by parachute and landed on the grasslands of northern China at 5:37 p.m. Beijing time.

The capsule was located about 10 minutes later by a search-and-rescue team, which helped the three astronauts climb out.

The landing was shown on national television and the three astronauts appeared relatively well.

After emerging from a cramped, round capsule, they sat on what looked like lawn chairs, waved to the cameras and spoke briefly.