China's manned deep-sea submersible, the Jiaolong, completed its first dive Friday and went back to its mother ship Xiangyanghong 09.

The three sea drivers, who had got out of the vessel, were waving the national flag and sending best regards to the motherland.

The Jiaolong reached over 6,000 meters in the Mariana Trench at noon time (0200 GMT) Friday.

The dive, which began at 9 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Thursday), is the first of a series of six scheduled ones to attempt the country's deepest-ever 7,000-meter manned dive.