The Chinese Shenzhou 3 spacecraft's descent module returned to Earth Monday, touching down one week after it launched on the third test flight of a prototype spacecraft that may one day carry humans into space.

Landing of the re-entry capsule occurred at 0851 GMT (3:51 a.m. EST) in the central part of Inner Mongolia, near the same place that the previous two Shenzhou missions touched down.

Shenzhou 3 orbited the Earth 108 times since its launch on March 25. This makes Shenzhou 3's mission the same length of the Shenzhou 2 flight in early 2001.

Also like Shenzhou 2, the orbital module stayed behind in orbit to conduct more experiments over the coming months.

Pictures of the return capsule in Mongolia were released soon after the recovery of the spacecraft, unlike the previous Shenzhou 2 mission when no pictures of details were revealed. This leads some Western experts to believe that a possible failure of the landing systems on Shenzhou 2 might have damaged or even destroyed the craft. Chinese officials deny this.

News agencies in China quoted Chinese space officials as saying that Shenzhou 3 is "technically suitable for astronauts."

Shenzhou 3 carried a variety of investigations in life sciences, materials science, astronomy, and microgravity. The mission also included a dummy human that was rigged with instruments and sensors to determine the livable environment inside the spacecraft while in orbit.

Another first in the Shenzhou 3 mission was the test of an escape system during launch that could save the lives of the crew in the event of a serious failure, the People's Daily reported.

Officials say that the flight of Shenzhou 3 laid a solid foundation for future manned flights, the Xinhua news service said.

State-run media organizations report that the return capsule of Shenzhou 3 will be taken to Beijing for further study in a few days.

Shenzhou 3 was preceded by the one-day flight of Shenzhou 1 in November 1999 and the week-long mission of Shenzhou 2 in January 2001.

Many experts believe that China could send its first manned spacecraft into orbit as soon as late next year, making it the third nation after the former Soviet Union and the United States to accomplish such a feat.

At least two more test flights are expected before a manned attempt is staged. The next flight -- Shenzhou 4 -- has been reported to be scheduled to launch later this year.

Physically, Shenzhou spacecraft are strikingly similar in design to Russian Soyuz capsules. However, unlike Soyuz, there are two pair of solar arrays on Shenzhou. Also, the Shenzhou spacecraft reportedly weighs around 17,000 pounds total, making it quite a bit more massive than a Soyuz.