Meet the Shenzhou family, China’s independently-designed spacecraft (6)

China’s first manned spacecraft, Shenzhou V, was launched on Oct. 15, 2003. The astronaut onboard and the spacecraft itself landed with a complete return capsule on Oct. 16 in Inner Mongolia, 4.8 kilometers away from the scheduled landing spot. The mission was a milestone in China’s manned space missions, and also made China the third country in the world with independent technology for manned space flights.

Two more astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, traveled into space on Shenzhou VI on Oct. 12, 2005. The team returned safely on Oct. 17, marking China’s first successful manned space flight with more than one astronaut and several days in space.