A landing zone for the orbiting Shenzhou-9 spacecraft went into operation Monday to prepare for the return of the craft and its three crew members, according to landing zone personnel.

Personnel and equipment that are responsible for retrieval, search and rescue missions have arrived at the landing area in Siziwang Banner (county) in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, landing zone personnel said.

Astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft conducted China's first manual space docking procedure on Sunday with the orbiting Tiangong-1 lab module.

The landing zone has been used for all previous Shenzhou space missions.