.contact us |.about us
HomeBizChinaMetrolifeDragon KidsForum

Highlights ... ...
Search:
    Advertisement
AP: China's first astronaut lands on Earth
( 2003-10-16 10:53) (AP)

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

The craft carrying Lt. Col. Yang Liwei landed by parachute on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China at dawn Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Minutes later, he grabbed the capsule hatch with his hand, pulled himself out and waved at rescuers.

"The spaceship operated well," Yang later said, according to Xinhua. "I feel very good and I am proud of my motherland."

Within hours, Zhang Qingwei, the space program's No. 2 official, announced through Xinhua that China's space dreams would continue with plans for a space lab and a space station serviced by Shenzhou capsules.

Shenzhou 5 landed at 6:23 a.m., the government said. Less than two hours later, he was in a helicopter en route to Beijing, the state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

Li Jinai, the head of China's manned space program, called Yang a "space hero."

The completed 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. China's premier, Wen Jiabao, immediately spoke to Yang from Beijing and offered his congratulations.

"Great Leap Skyward," the state-controlled newspaper China Daily enthused Thursday morning.

Yang, a 38-year-old former fighter pilot, landed three miles from his target, the government said.

The flight came four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States pioneered manned spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in 1961. Less than one month later, the United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr.

Shenzhou 5 orbited the Earth 14 times. Though the government has been secretive about its space program, it offered frequent glimpses of Yang during the trip.

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, Xinhua said. Shown on a screen in the mission control center, the capsule made a gentle turnaround upon receiving the order, according to the official news agency.

After the landing, helicopters and trucks rushed to retrieve Yang. Reports had said he would be armed with knives and possibly a gun to protect himself against animals and other threats in the Inner Mongolian grasslands where the ship was to touch down.

The mission began when the rocket carrying Yang streaked into a clear blue sky from a Gobi Desert launch pad in China's remote northwest.

CCTV's flagship channel broke into its programming to announce the liftoff, and 28 minutes later it broadcast the first gripping scenes of the rocket blasting off. It ran stirring music that was strikingly similar to both the "Star Wars" and "Superman" themes.

Yang hurtled around the planet for the rest of Wednesday, making a planned orbit shift in mid-afternoon and stopping work only to rest and eat Chinese food designed especially for space travel.

With his mission nearly half over, he spoke to ground control and his boss. "Don't worry — I'm going to work hard to accomplish the task," he told Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan.

Later, Yang spoke to his wife and their 8-year-old son from space, Xinhua reported. "I'm feeling very good in space, and it looks extremely splendid around here," he told his wife, Zhang Yumei, who also works for China's space program. And he said hello to his "dear son."

Yang also unfurled two flags for ground control to see — China's and the United Nations' — to "highlight China's persistent stand for peaceful exploration and exploitation of space," the government said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, at the launch base for the Shenzhou liftoff, called it "the glory of our great motherland."

"You carry the dreams of our nation into space with you," Hu told Yang before the launch. The taikonaut (TYE'-koh-nawt) replied, "Thanks to you, and thanks to the people, for putting confidence in me."

Taikonaut is an English nickname based on the Chinese word for space, "taikong."

China's leaders long ago replaced their leftist ideology with sweeping economic reform, and resort instead to flag-waving nationalistic appeals to bind their nation together.

Even before the safe landing, congratulations poured in from abroad.

"It seems we have a new rival," said Hiroshi Inoue, a spokesman for Japan's space agency. "But since this is not a war, China is not a threat. This could be beneficial to the space development technology for the rest of the world."

NASA, whose space shuttle Columbia was lost in February, called it "an important achievement in the history of human exploration."

"The Chinese people have a long and distinguished history of exploration," said NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe. He wished China "a continued safe human space flight program."

Aboard the international space station, American astronaut Edward Lu, whose parents were born in China, spoke in Chinese as he addressed these wishes to Yang: "Welcome to space" and "Have a safe journey and I wish you success."

His colleague, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, told Mission Control in Houston: "I am glad to have somebody else in space instead of me and Ed. Also, I know it was great work by thousands and thousands of people from China."

In Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union pioneered manned spaceflight, the first deputy head of the Russian space agency said his staffers "simply welcome the event and are happy for them." But Nikolai Moiseyev noted Russia's involvement, too.

"Often, we are asked, 'Did Russia nourish the Chinese cosmonauts?' I have to say that Russia has fed all the world's space programs," Moiseyev said.

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

Yang, an astronaut since 1998, was picked for the flight from three finalists. They 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.

   
Close  
  Go to Another Section  
     
 
 
     
  Article Tools  
     
  E-Mail This Article
Print Friendly Format
 
     
   
        .contact us |.about us
  Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved  
主站蜘蛛池模板: 女人被弄到高潮的免费视频| 欧美A级毛欧美1级a大片免费播放| 四虎精品1515hh| 免费在线观看视频网站| 国偷自产视频一区二区久| аⅴ中文在线天堂| 扒开腿狂躁女人爽出白浆| 久久精品国产99久久无毒不卡| 欧美怡红院成免费人忱友;| 亚洲精品资源在线| 福利一区二区三区视频在线观看 | 国产男女无遮挡猛进猛出| 97国产在线视频| 大陆三级午夜理伦三级三| α片毛片免费看| 巨龙肉色透明水晶丝袜校花| 中文字幕国产一区| 日日摸日日碰夜夜爽亚洲| 久久大香香蕉国产| 日韩欧美精品在线视频| 亚洲AV成人噜噜无码网站| 欧美丰满熟妇xx猛交| 亚洲图片小说网| 毛片免费在线播放| 亚洲精品自在在线观看| 狠狠色狠狠色综合网| 免费传媒网站免费| 精品久久久久国产免费| 午夜天堂精品久久久久| 精品精品国产欧美在线观看| 四虎成人精品在永久免费| 色吊丝永久在线观看最新| 国产一区二区三区免费在线观看 | 99ee6热久久免费精品6| 大乳丰满人妻中文字幕日本| jizz中国jizz欧洲/日韩在线| 小宝极品内射国产在线| 一本大道在线无码一区| 宝贝乖女好紧好深好爽老师 | jizz在线看片| 天天色天天射综合网|