Astronauts now back home, new mission in 2007
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-17 16:45

In his hometown in Zaoyang county of northern Hebei province, hundreds of proud residents hit the streets from before sunrise to mark the spacecraft's safe return.

Staff at the Beijing Aerospace Demand and Control Center celebrates the success of China's second manned space mission. [Xinhua]

State television showed footage of the town celebrating its most famous son with firecrackers and dragon dances.

The flight was China's second manned space mission after Shenzhou V in October 2003, which made China the third nation after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man into space.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Inner Mongolia's border with Gansu province on Wednesday.

The flight was in many ways a leap forward compared with China's maiden space voyage, when lone astronaut Yang Liwei spent 21 hours orbiting the Earth without leaving his seat or taking off his space suit.

In contrast, Fei and Nie conducted a series of experiments and maneuvers, including leaving the re-entry capsule and entering the orbital capsule at the nose of the craft, taking off their bulky suits.

"The views that we had showed that the foward section was quite crammed with equipment, and what appeared to be observation cameras," said James Oberg, a US-based aerospace consultant. "They were clearly busy."