Chinese astronaut Jing Haipeng (left) and Chen Dong (right) answer questions during a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, December 7, 2016 (XINHUA)

The two astronauts who manned China's Shenzhou-11 mission met the press following almost three weeks in quarantine.

Jing Haipeng, 55, commander of the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, and Chen Dong, 38, appeared in good spirits and shared their experiences with the press.

Launched on October 17, Shenzhou-11 docked two days later with China's first space lab, Tiangong-2, where the two astronauts lived for 30 days, the longest time a taikonaut has spent in space.

After safely returning to Earth on November 18, the two astronauts were quarantined to help them readapt to life on Earth.

According to Huang Weifen, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system with the Astronaut Center of China, the astronauts' health checks matched expectations, however, they will continue to be observed for another month to ensure they are completely acclimatized.

It was the third space mission for Jing, 50, who also participated in the Shenzhou-7 and Shenzhou-9 missions.

It was Chen's first space mission.

The Shenzhou-11 mission is part of China's ambitious plan to build a permanent manned space station.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2016)