Zhai Zhigang and two other astronauts on the Shenzhou VII craft are due to land around 5:40 p.m. (5:40 a.m. EDT) on the steppes of northern Inner Mongolia region, where helicopters with crews trained in search and rescue are on stand-by.

The men can expect a heroes' welcome when they step back onto the earth. Previous space pioneers, now national icons, have been showered with tributes and gifts ranging from luxury housing for their families to traditional operas performed in their honor.

Zhai's successful space walk in a US$4.4 million, domestically designed, suit caps an eventful year for China in which it has both coped with the tragedy of the devastating Sichuan earthquake and reveled in the Beijing Olympics.