Chinese manned space flight starts return to Earth

BEIJING (AFP) Oct 15, 2003
China's Aerospace Command and Control Centre gave the order Thursday morning for the country's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou V to begin its return to Earth as scheduled, the Xinhua news agency said.

The craft made a gentle turnaround upon receiving the order.

Xinhua said that before touching down in Inner Mongolia the craft would first readjust its altitude before the separation of the re-entry capsule from the orbital module and the propulsion module.

The craft, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei, 38, orbited the Earth 14 times.

It blasted off at 9am (0100 GMT) Wednesday to propel China into an elite club of space-faring nations along with the United States and Russia.

SPACE.WIRE