China's first astronaut out of re-entry capsule

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 16, 2003

China's first astronaut out of re-entry capsule

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China's first astronaut Yang Liwei walked out of the re-entry capsule the Shenzhou 5 (Divine Vessel V) spaceship, smiling and waving to the recovery team Thursday morning in the grassland in Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, state television picture showed.

Yang has spent 21 hours in outer space, traveling more than 600,000 kilometres in the earth's orbit before Shenzhou 5 brought him back at 6:07 am Thursday Beijing time. Yang said he feels excellent after the 21-hour journey, the first by a Chinese.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said in a congratulation message Thursday morning that China's first manned spaceflight has been a "complete success", which shall be written into the history of China's space program development.

At about 6:00am Thursday, the return capsule of China's first manned spacecraft entered China's air space. Several minutes later, the capsule landed safely in Northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Yang reported situations "good".

Five rescue helicopters raced towards the capsule and found it at 6:36. They said Yang felt good and the conditions with the capsule also seemed normal.

Premier Wen Jiabao talks with Yang, congratulating his safe return. Then the Beijing control center declared that China's first manned spaceflight succeeded.

At 6:51, Yang Liwei went out of the capsule on himself, waving to rescuers.

Li Jinai, chief commander of China's space program, said that, the actual landing site is 4.8 kilometers from the designed site, but the conditions of the return capsule are good and Yang could walk out of the capsule on himself. All these marked the complete success of the manned flight.

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China's first astronaut returns safely

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