BEIJING - China's Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday delivered a congratulatory note from the central authorities, celebrating the successful landing of the country's Shenzhou IX spacecraft.

The central authorities express congratulations to astronauts who successfully completed this mission and all people engaged in the mission, reads the note sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council and the Central Military Commission.

The successful rendezvous and docking between the target orbiter Tiangong-1 and the Shenzhou IX spacecraft marks a significant breakthrough in China's space docking technology, and it also marks decisive progress in fulfilling the second strategic target of China's manned space program, reads the note.

Shortly before Wen delivered the note at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Chang Wanquan, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, announced that the space rendezvous and docking mission has achieved complete success.

The safe return of the Shenzhou IX marked the end of the nearly two-week space docking mission, which will pave the way for the country's establishment of a permanent manned space station around 2020.

Wen and other senior leaders, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang, watched the return of Shenzhou IX spacecraft at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center Friday.

Shenzhou IX, which was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 16 with China's first female astronaut onboard, landed in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Friday morning, after completing the country's first manual rendezvous and docking mission with the space lab module Tiangong-1.