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The re-entry capsule of ShenZhou-6 spacecraft carrying two Chinese astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng landed by parachute early Monday in the grassland of northern China after five days in orbit. The two astronauts reported they had landed safely and were in good health after the space capsule touched down in the landing site located in the northern Inner Mongolia region.
Fei and Nie blasted off Wednesday on China's second manned space mission, an effort by the government to promote an image as an emerging technological power. It came two years after the country's first manned space flight ShenZhou-5 in October 2003. The orbital module of ShenZhou-6 remained in orbit and is to continue operating for up to half a year.
State television broadcasted on live television scores of technicians monitoring the landing in front of computer screens at a Beijing control centre, and the scenes of astronauts climbing out of the capsule under the help of recovery team staffs. The two astronauts appeared to be in good conditions and held a short ceremony to celebrate the successes of the mission.
China has pulled together its increasingly ambitious space program on a relative shoestring. Xinhua quoted a Chinese academic as saying the price for the development of the entire manned spaceflight programme was about $2.3 billion, a fraction of NASA's $16 billion budget for 2005 alone. But state media have mainly focused on the economic benefits the space program should reap for China's 1.3 billion people.
17 October 2005
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