Chinese manned space flight returns to Earth

BEIJING (AFP) Oct 16, 2003
The re-entry capsule of Shenzhou V, China's first manned spacecraft, returned to Earth Thursday and recovery teams have found astronaut Yang Liwei alive and well, the Xinhua news agency said.

The capsule landed in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia around the Siziwang area some 300 kilometres (186 miles) northwest of the capital Beijing.

Xinhua quoted recovery officials as saying Yang was in good health.

The touchdown marked the end of an historic flight which blasted off from Jiuquan in northeast China at 9 am (0100 GMT) Wednesday.

SPACE.WIRE