Chinese greet arrival of space capsule
Posted on: Saturday, 18 October 2003, 06:00 CDT
Chinese greet arrival of space capsule
By TED ANTHONY Associated Press
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Beijing -- Following its astronaut home, the Shenzhou 5 space capsule arrived in the Chinese capital by train Friday and rolled through the streets, escorted by lion dancers and welcomed by cheering crowds.
"The capsule came back without any damage. I think the instruments inside can be used for the next launch," Qi Faren, the chief designer of Shenzhou 5, said on the official national evening newscast.
The capsule traveled thousands of miles an hour as it carried Lt. Col. Yang Liwei into orbit Wednesday and deposited him on the Inner Mongolian grasslands a day later. It returned here far more slowly - - by railroad, wrapped in camouflage cloth.
Space officials greeted it, and state television showed technicians gingerly shepherding it onto a flatbed truck. From there, it made its way through the streets.
The capsule that made China the world's third space-faring nation, behind the former Soviet Union and the United States, will be opened today and examined in detail, Qi said.
Yang, 38, was reported "in good physical health" after extensive medical tests, the government said.
In comments released Friday, the People's Liberation Army fighter pilot confirmed that, contrary to popular belief, China's most famous piece of engineering can't be seen from on high.
"I did not see the Great Wall from space," Yang said, answering a question from a China Central Television viewer.
In a nod to the space program's roots, CCTV also showed Tsien Hsue-shen, 92, the reclusive founder of China's rocketry program, exulting in Shenzhou 5's success.
Tsien, a co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was driven from the United States in 1955 during anti-communist fervor and returned to work for his homeland.
China said Thursday that it would push forward with the manned space program, announcing plans to send another Shenzhou capsule within two years.
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