The two Chinese astronauts who have spent a month in space for China's longest manned mission is beginning to make their journey back home on Thursday, state media reported.

Jing Haipeng, 50, and Chen Dong, 27, boarded the spacecraft Shenzhou-11, which separated from the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab at 12:41 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Thursday, according to state-backed Xinhua News agency.

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The landing module is anticipated to descend from its orbit on Friday. Officials have prepared the return of the two astronauts at the primary landing site for Shenzhou-11 in Inner Mongolia.

The separation marks the start of the taikonauts journey back to Earth after staying and working in Tiangong-2 for 30 days. Following the separation process, Shenzhou-11 will stay near the space lab as the astronauts await for the ground team's go signal to embark their return journey.

The following day, the re-entry module will descend from an orbit of around 393 kilometers above earth, which the Economic Times noted is a true test of its re-entry system since it has to withstand heavy friction from its outer surface.

But before the separation took place, both Jing and Chen expressed their gratitude and paid respect to the ground team and the people behind their successful space mission.

"We have been living and working here for 30 days, and it is like our home in space," Chen told Xinhua. "It is a bit hard for me to leave here."

The Tiangong-2 will stay in its orbit and will continue on conducting experiments until it docks with Tianzhou-1, China's first cargo spacecraft, which is expected to be launched in April 2017.

Li Jinzhi, an official from the site, said drones will be utilized for spacecraft recover and are anticipated to maximize the search area and improve efficiency.

Meanwhile, the astronauts will bring with them the silkworms and lettuce plants they kept in the space lab. The six silkworms, which is an experiment by Hong Kong students, study how the larvae morph in a weightless environment, the South China Morning Post reported. They will also take home a sample of their urine and saliva as well as bacteria collected from the atmosphere.

TagsChina longest manned space mission, Shenzhou 11, China space mission, Tiangong-2, Tianzhou-1