China’s astronaut returns safely

(CNN) -- China's first manned spacecraft has successfully returned to the Earth with astronaut Yang Liwei in good health, according to Chinese news agency reports.

China's State television said Shenzhou V landed at 6:28 a.m. Thursday (2228 GMT Wednesday). "The landing is successful," a CCTV correspondent said. The station released an image of the capsule.

China's official Xinhua news agency said the capsule re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 6:04 a.m. on Thursday (2204 GMT Wednesday), and the astronaut said he was feeling fine.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao congratulated the country's first man in space after his safe return to Earth, Xinhua news agency said.

"remier Wen Jiabao talked to astronaut Yang Liwei and congratulated him on his safe return," it said.

Yang touched down on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China as planned at dawn and minutes later emerged from the capsule without help and waved at rescuers, though footage showed him appearing a bit dazed.

His landing came after Shenzhou V orbited Earth 14 times. Yang, a 38-year-old fighter pilot turned astronaut, landed just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from his target, the government said.

"The mission was a success," said Li Jinai, the head of China's manned space program, according to The Associated Press.

The government said Yang's condition was "good," and the Web site Sina.com said he would undergo an immediate physical exam.

While in orbit, Yang spoke to his family, telling them it looked "splendid" in space.

He also had a conversation with China's defense minister, unfurled the flags of China and the United Nations and took a nap.

Yang was blasted into space aboard the Shenzhou V spacecraft at 9:00 a.m. local time Wednesday (0100 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch site in China's western Gobi Desert.

The flight makes China only the third country in the world to launch a manned spacecraft into orbit, some four decades after the Soviet Union and the United States first achieved the feat.

During the flight the Shenzhou V spacecraft was being monitored by ground stations in China, Namibia and the south Pacific island of Kiribati, with ship-based tracking stations deployed in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Quoted by Chinese media just before he blasted off into space, China's first astronaut promised he would "gain honor for the People's Liberation Army and for the Chinese nation."

"I will not disappoint the motherland," Yang was quoted as saying. "I will complete each movement with total concentration."

China's space program has close ties to the military and is surrounded by secrecy.

Few details of the mission were announced in advance with even the launch time kept a secret until the last moment.

Despite that secrecy, China's leaders are hoping that the successful flight will boost national pride, rally popular sentiment behind the communist party and raise the profile of Chinese technology.

Applause also came from the U.S. space agency NASA, whose administrator described the launch as "an important achievement in the history of human exploration." (NASA praises launch)

No outside journalists were allowed permits to cover the event, with only a few representatives of Chinese state-run media observing the launch.

Earlier this week, state-run CCTV cancelled plans to broadcast live television pictures of the launch on the advice of "space experts."

Observers said China's leaders considered the political risks of a launch failure too great to allow live coverage.


Picture below says Yang Liwei: Destined for a place in China's history books.

JIUQUAN, China — China's first astronaut in space returned safely to Earth on Thursday when his craft touched down on time and as planned after 21 hours in orbit, the government said. China's mission control declared the country's landmark debut flight "a success."

 



The craft carrying Lt. Col. Yang Liwei (search) touched down on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China as planned at dawn Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Minutes later, he emerged from the capsule and waved at rescuers, according to images broadcast by state television.

"The landing is successful," a China Central Television correspondent said. The station released an image of the capsule. The country's premier immediately spoke to Yang and offered his congratulations.

Shenzhou 5 (search) landed at 6:28 a.m., the government said.

The government said his condition was "good," and the Web site Sina.com said he would undergo an immediate physical exam.

The landing came after a 21-hour mission in which Shenzhou 5 orbited the Earth (search) 14 times. Though the government has been very secretive about its space program, it offered frequent glimpses of Yang throughout the trip and repeatedly said everything was going fine.

The completion of the mission was the crowning achievement of an 11-year, military-linked manned space program promoted as a symbol of national prestige both at home and abroad.

Helicopters and trucks rushed to retrieve Yang. Earlier reports said the astronaut would be armed with knives and possibly a gun to protect himself against wild animals and other threats in the Inner Mongolian grasslands where the ship was to touch down.

Xinhua said the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center sent a message at about 5:35 a.m. Thursday to Shenzhou 5 instructing it to return as planned. Shenzhou 5, shown on a three-dimensional screen in the mission control center, made a gentle turnaround upon receiving the order, Xinhua said.

While in orbit, Yang spoke to his family, telling them it looked "splendid" in space. He also had a conversation with the country's defense minister, unfurled the flags of China and the United Nations and took a nap.

Yang, an astronaut since 1998, was picked for the flight from three finalists. They have trained for years, and the field was narrowed from 14 in recent weeks. His trip came after four test flights, beginning in 1999, of unmanned Shenzhou capsules.

China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s. It launched a manned space program in the 1970s amid the political upheaval of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution but later abandoned it. The program was relaunched in 1992 under the code name Project 921.



The budget for the program is secret, but foreign experts say it totals at least $1 billion -- a major commitment for China, where the average person makes $700 a year.

The Shenzhou, or "Divine Vessel," is based on the three-seat Russian Soyuz capsule, though with extensive modifications.