China's Successful Manned Space Mission 

China has succeeded in sending its first manned spacecraft into orbit, making it only the third country ever to send a human into space. Only the United States and the Soviet Union had previously sent humans into space.

On board was a single astronaut, Yang Liwei. He was expected to circle the planet 14 times, returning to Earth after a flight of about 22 hours. Yang Liwei, a 38-year-old serving in the People's Liberation Army, was only publicly confirmed as the firstastronaut or yuhangyuan ;just before the flight began.

His first words to mission control from space were, "I feel good. See you tomorrow."

Yang spent more than 21 hours in outer space, travelling more than 600,000 kilometres in earth orbit before Shenzhou 5 brought him back at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time October 16. Yang said he felt excellent after the more than 21-hour journey, the first by a Chinese.