On This Day | China sends its first astronaut, Yang Liwei, into space on board Shenzhou 5 — from the SCMP archive
- 20 years after China launched its first crewed space flight on October 15, 2003, we revisit our coverage of the event
- China’s former president Hu Jintao hailed the launch as ‘a historic step by the Chinese people’
By Staff Reporters and Agencies
Lieutenant-Colonel Yang Liwei was due back on Earth early on Thursday to complete China’s historic first manned space flight.
If all goes according to plan, Colonel Yang’s trail-blazing 21 hours in space will end when the re-entry capsule of his spacecraft touches down about 7am in the Gobi desert.
The mission captured the imagination of people around the world.
The Shenzhou 5 blasted off the launch pad at 9am on Wednesday, the exact time that had been widely rumoured for days.
The Long March CZ-2F rocket carrying the capsule blasted off into clear skies as onlookers clapped and cheered.
Minutes after lift-off, China Central Television cut into programming to announce the launch, and 28 minutes later showed the spacecraft streaking up into the sky, the fiery trail of its booster rockets billowing behind.