China's first manned spaceship - Shenzhou V (Divine Vessel V) blasts off into space at the Jiu Quan Satellite Launch Center at October 15, 2003. Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space [yuhangyuan in chinese], spent 21 hours in space, orbiting the Earth 14 times. Shenzhou-5 traveled 600,000 km during the flight.

China became the third state to put a man into space after the former Soviet Union and the United States. [The former Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin up in 1961. John Glenn became the first American in orbit in 1962]

In 1992, the country started a manned spaceflight program, in the wake of success in sending man-made earth satellites into space. Spacecraft of the Shenzhou series ventured, successfully, into the outer space four times from 1999 to 2002 under the program.

Yang's return to Earth from outer space signifies completion of the first step taken by China to implement its plans for space exploration. More steps are to follow -- attempts for space walk, rendezvous and docking of spaceships and setting up of a space lab.

Sometime from now, up in the space, high over the Earth, there will be a space station which, like Shenzhen-5 that has just made history, will be designed, built and manned by the Chinese. >from *China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation*. October 15-16, 2003.

related context
> backgrounder: chronology of china's space program.
> witnesses suggest change of course for nasa human space flight programs. house committee on science, at the hearing on 'the future of human space flight. october 16, 2003
> interorbital systems to launch first teenager to space. september 26, 2003
> eu and china are set to collaborate on galileo -the european global system of satellite navigation. september 18, 2003
> columbia accident investigation board releases final report. august 26, 2003
> the international space station overview.
> iss, expedition 1 . november 2, 2000

imago
> i did not see Great Wall from space [yang liwe]

NASA safety experts opposed latest ISS mission
October 23, 2003

"There is believed to be tension within NASA between safety experts who fear the ISS is becoming dangerously dilapidated and astronauts and managers who do not want to leave the outpost unmanned for fear it could become vulnerable to an accident that would make it spiral out of control... Sensors at the space station that monitor air and water quality and radiation levels have been broken for a number of months. Other systems that monitor the crew's vital signs have also been producing irregular data."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994306

first private manned spaceflight in history! Rocket plane SpaceShipOne reached an altitude above 62.5 miles (100 km) during its brief flight this morning, making it the first privately built craft to fly in space, controllers said. The space plane was carried aloft to about 50,000 feet by the jet White Knight. From there SpaceShipOne launched into space. Shortly after, the space vehicle landed safely at the same place from which it took off.

As the planes taxied onto the runway of the Mojave Airport, the pilot of SpaceShipOne, Michael Melvill (62), and the pilot of White Knight, Brian Binnie, waved to spectators from round portholes in the two vehicles.

The rocket plane designed by Burt Rutan and built by his firm Scaled Composites is taking its 15th test flight -- its farthest and fastest to date.

Scaled Composites is one of 24 companies from several countries competing for the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which will go to the first privately funded group to send three people on a suborbital flight 62.5 miles (100.6 kilometers) high and repeat the feat within two weeks using the same vehicle.

The nonprofit X Prize Foundation is sponsoring the contest to promote the development of a low-cost, efficient craft for space tourism in the same way prize competitions stimulated commercial aviation in the early 20th century.

More info http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/pressreleases.htm

The flight of the first private astronaut was not as perfect as it first appeared – a number of glitches occurred during the flight, some potentially catastrophic. More: 'Anomalies' in first private spaceflight revealed. June 22, 2004
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996052