China Launches Historic Space Mission

China’s first astronaut carried the hopes of his nation into orbit with him Wednesday, promising to do a good job and telling his family far below that the view from space was “extremely splendid.”

The apparently flawless launch of the Shenzhou 5 capsule capped a decade-long effort by China’s secretive, military-linked space program that communist leaders hope will boost the nation’s image abroad – and their standing at home among their own people.

The rocket carrying Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, a 38-year-old fighter pilot turned astronaut, streaked into a clear blue sky at precisely 9 a.m. (9 p.m. EDT Tuesday) from a Gobi Desert launch pad in China’s remote northwest. The government said the capsule entered orbit 10 minutes later.

China Central Television broke into its programming to announce the liftoff, and 28 minutes later broadcast the first gripping scenes of the rocket blasting off. CCTV, which ran stirring music that was strikingly similar to the “Star Wars” theme, said the flight would last 14 orbits and 21 hours.

Shenzhou 5 is scheduled to land on the Inner Mongolian grasslands of northern China at about 6 a.m. Thursday (6 p.m. EDT Wednesday). The weather is expected to be clear.

Yang hurtled around the planet for most of Wednesday, making a planned orbit shift in midafternoon and stopping work only to rest and eat Chinese food designed especially for space travel.

With his mission nearly half over, he spoke to ground control and his boss. “Don’t worry – I’m going to work hard to accomplish the task,” he told Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan.

Later, Yang spoke to his wife and their 8-year-old son from space, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. “I’m feeling very good in space, and it looks extremely splendid around here,” he told his wife, Zhang Yumei, who also works for China’s space program. He also said hello to his “dear son.”

With ground control watching, Yang unfurled the flags of China and the United Nations to “highlight China’s persistent stand for peaceful exploration and exploitation of space,” the government said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, at the launch base for the Shenzhou liftoff, called it “the glory of our great motherland.”

“The party and the people will never forget those who have set up the outstanding merit in the space industry for the motherland, the people and the nation,” Hu said.

State television showed Hu and a group of senior officials and military officers watching the launch from outdoor bleachers, craning their necks to follow the rocket toward space. The president, wearing large sunglasses, grinned once it became clear the launch was successful.

China’s leaders long ago replaced their leftist ideology with sweeping economic reforms, and use flag-waving nationalistic appeals to bind their nation together.

The flight comes four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States pioneered manned spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in 1961. The United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr. less than a month later. In 1962, John Glenn became the first American in orbit.

The United States and other governments congratulated China on what NASA, whose space shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry in February, called “an important achievement in the history of human exploration.”

“The Chinese people have a long and distinguished history of exploration,” said NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe. He wished China “a continued safe human space flight program.”

In Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union pioneered manned spaceflight, the first deputy head of the Russian space agency said his staff “simply welcome the event and are happy for them.” But Nikolai Moiseyev noted Russia’s involvement, too.

“Often, we are asked, ‘Did Russia nourish the Chinese cosmonauts?’ I have to say that Russia has fed all the world’s space programs,” Moiseyev said.

Japan’s chief government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda offered his “heartfelt prayers for the success” of China’s mission, and tried to allay public concerns that Tokyo, which has no manned space program, was being outdone by its giant neighbor.

“I don’t think this means we have fallen behind,” he said. “We have followed our own way of doing things.”

China kept details of its launch secret, announcing only that it would take place between Wednesday and Friday. Yang’s identity wasn’t officially disclosed until one minute after liftoff, though Chinese and Hong Kong media had reported it earlier.

CCTV canceled plans to show the launch live, suggesting that Chinese leaders might be worried about the possible political impact if anything went wrong. China used to broadcast satellite launches, but stopped after a rocket blew following liftoff in 1995, reportedly killing six people on the ground.

CCTV showed Yang being cheered by space workers at an outdoor predawn ceremony at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, some 175 miles northeast of the city of Jiuquan. Dressed in his space suit with the visor up, he waved to the crowd and saluted other officers.

“You carry the dreams of our nation into space with you,” Hu told Yang before the launch. The taikonaut (TYE’-koh-nawt) replied, “Thanks to you, and thanks to the people, for putting confidence in me.”

Taikonaut is an English nickname based on the Chinese word for space, “taikong.”

“I feel good,” Yang radioed back from space after a half-hour in flight, according to Xinhua. At midday, Yang had a lunch of diced chicken and rice with dates and nuts, and then took a three-hour nap.

Yang, an astronaut since 1998, was picked for the flight from three finalists. They have trained for years, and the field was narrowed from 14 in recent weeks.

The launch comes after four test flights, beginning in 1999, of unmanned Shenzhou capsules.

China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s. It launched a manned space program in the 1970s amid the political upheaval of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution but later abandoned it. The program was relaunched in 1992 under the code name Project 921.

The budget for the program is secret, but foreign experts say it totals at least $1 billion – a major commitment for China, where the average person makes $700 a year.

The Shenzhou, or “Divine Vessel,” is based on the three-seat Russian Soyuz capsule, though with extensive modifications.