The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has announced that the Shenzhou-19 crew is due to return to Earth on Wednesday, following a delay due to bad weather.

The CMSA said the Shenzhou-19 spaceship separated from the Tiangong space station at 4 am on Wednesday and started its return to earth – carrying three astronauts aboard – Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze.

The spaceship is scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The Shenzhou-19 crew have been working on the space station since October and were scheduled to descend to Earth on Tuesday afternoon.

The trio have carried out experiments during their six-month stay on Tiangong and set a new record for the longest-ever spacewalk.

Wang, 35, was China's only woman spaceflight engineer at the time of the launch, according to the CMS.

Commander Cai, a 48-year-old former air force pilot, previously served aboard Tiangong as part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.

Song, who's 34, was an air force pilot.

China launched the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship on April 24, sending three astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie to the space station for another six-month mission. (Agencies)