Oct 16 2003
From The Space Library
Chinese taikonaut Yang Liwei successfully completed his 21-hour mission of 14 orbits around Earth aboard the Shenzhou 5, landing safely in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. From aboard the ISS, American astronaut Edward T. Lu, speaking in Chinese, had welcomed Yang to space and wished him a safe journey and success. Russian cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko had told Mission Control in Houston that he was glad to have someone else in space besides himself and Lu, congratulating the great accomplishment of thousands of people in the People's Republic of China who had worked together to send Yang into space. After emerging from his capsule, Yang stated that Shenzhou 5 had operated very well, that he felt well, and that he was “proud of the motherland.(John Pomfret, “China's First Space Traveler Returns a Hero: Craft Made 14 Orbits in 21-Hour Mission,” Washington Post, 16 October 2003; Ching-Ching Ni, “China Completes Spaceflight: Nation's First Astronaut, Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, Returns from Earth Orbit,” Los Angeles Times, 16 October 2003.
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