Sean O'Keefe, the NASA administrator, said in a statement: "This launch is an important achievement in the history of human exploration. China, after Russia and the United States, is only the third nation to successfully launch humans into space."

But as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration struggles to get its own space shuttle programme back on track after this year's Columbia disaster, O'Keefe added: "The Chinese people have a long and distinguished history of exploration. NASA wishes China a continued safe human space flight programme."

US shuttle flights are not expected to resume until late 2004. The US agency was strongly criticised following the death of the seven Columbia astronauts on February 1.

China launched an astronaut into space aboard the Shenzhou V craft in a historic mission on Wednesday.

SPACE.WIRE