Chinese President Jiang Zemin inspected the recoverable capsule of the "Shenzhou" spacecraft that successfully conducted China's first space mission over the weekend at Beijing Aerospace City, and met with those involved in spaceflight on November 24.

Jiang, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, extended his warm congratulations to all of those who participated in the successful launch of "Shenzhou" on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission.

Jiang encouraged scientific and technological personnel involved with "Shenzhou" to make even greater contributions to the development of high technology in China and strengthen the country 's defense capability.

Vice-President Hu Jintao, who is also vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Zhang Wannian and Chi Haotian, both vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, also inspected the capsule.

At about 5 pm, Jiang, accompanied by Cao Gangchuan, head of the People's Liberation Army General Armaments Department, and other senior officials, visited the Beijing Aerospace Technology Research and Experiment Center at the Aerospace City and carefully observed the capsule as it was opened.

The successful launch of "Shenzhou" and its return was explained in detail to Jiang who was obviously delighted with the results.

Jiang said that the successful launch of China's first spacecraft is a milestone for the space industry in China and a major breakthrough in manned spaceflight technology.

The Chinese President encouraged those involved with "Shenzhou" to keep abreast with space developments around the world and strive to make greater contributions to scientific and technological research in China.

The "Shenzhou" spacecraft was launched on November 20 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province. It touched down in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China at 3:41 a.m. The recoverable capsule of the spacecraft was carried to Beijing yesterday and was opened this morning.

Other members of the Central Military Commission, Fu Quanyou, Yu Yongbo, Wang Ke, Wang Ruilin, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou were also present at the inspection site.