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China launches manned space flight
JIUQUAN, China (AP) -- Two years after China became only the third nation to launch a human into orbit, a pair of astronauts blasted off Wednesday on a longer, riskier mission after receiving a farewell visit from Premier Wen Jiabao.
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Chinese astronauts land after 5 days in orbit
By AUDRA ANG
Associated Press
BEIJING — A space capsule carrying two Chinese astronauts landed early Monday after five days in orbit and the men were "in good health," the government announced, as a small army of rescue and medical workers rushed to greet the country's second manned space mission.
The capsule touched down by parachute in the country at 4:32 a.m. local time in the country's northern grasslands, the official Xinhua News Agency and state television reported.
The astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, blasted off Wednesday — their space mission an effort by the communist government to promote an image as an emerging technological power. It came two years after the country's first manned space flight.
"We feel good, our work is going smoothly and our life is happy," Fei was quoted as saying by Xinhua in a brief satellite hookup this evening, before heading back to Earth. "We will do our utmost to fulfill the mission."
Officials set up the primary landing site at Siziwangqi in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and a backup site in Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert of China's northwest, where the capsule was launched Wednesday.
"The mission has accomplished the planned experiments and accumulated valuable technical data and experiences for the development of China's manned space program," Xinhua said today.
China is only the third country to send humans into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States — a source of tremendous national pride as the communist government tries to cement its status as a rising power and help prepare for a moon landing by 2010 and the eventual creation of a space station. Shenzhou means "divine vessel."
China Central Television said in its evening broadcast that everyone involved in the mission was "excitedly preparing for the return." It showed scientists huddling in groups over computers at Beijing's command center, as well as meteorologists monitoring the weather.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3398811
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AWESOME FOR THEM CONGRATS!!! but from next time we chinese/indians needs tomake their space flights more worthy worthy in the sense not just space walk but space exploration.
apparently we did send a manned mission wayy back in 1984
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THERE SHUD BE INCREASED RESEARCH BETWEEN CHINA-INDIA and have a own space station only if the other neighbour allows
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