China's Spaceman Back After 21-hour Mission

China's first manned spacecraft touched down in inner Mongolia last night, as the country celebrated becoming only the third to put an astronaut into orbit.

More than 40 years after the Soviet Union and the US, China's first yuhangyuan (space navigator), Lieutenant-Colonel Yang Liwei returned to Earth safely after 21 hours. China's mission control declared the voyage a "success".

Suspended by a giant parachute, the space capsule carrying Col Yang, 38, touched down at around 6.30am local time (10pm GMT) after a voyage that took him around the world 14 times. He emerged from the capsule without help and waved at rescuers.

Earlier he had told mission control: "I feel good. Vital signs normal," in the first words of Mandarin spoken in space.

China's president, Hu Jintao, hailed the mission as a great leap forward.

Media restrictions meant that almost nobody on the Chinese mainland had heard of the pilot before the launch, but the extended coverage of the takeoff and his safe return will make him an instant household name and a symbol of China's growing technological and economic ambitions.

Mr Hu declared the former fighter pilot a "warrior", who had taken a "historic step for the Chinese people in their climb to the top of the world of science and technology".

After weeks of anonymity, television stations breathlessly reported Col Yang's first words, first meal - kungpao chicken and fried rice - and even his first nap, taken after a tiny shift from a sitting to a horizontal position during his second orbit.

The images will be familiar to a world used to seeing people in the weightless and cramped conditions of a spacecraft, but China's media were triumphant in celebrating their membership of the world's most exclusive club.

"October 15 will go down as a landmark date in world history," said the national broadcaster, CCTV.

Col Yang's family have been interviewed, and were confident that Chinese technology would guarantee his safe return. A mini-biography has been broadcast, depicting how he rose from humble origins in Liaoning province, part of the rust belt of north-east China, to become an ace pilot in the People's Liberation Army.

Through an arranged marriage with a soldier, he has the standard one child, an eight-year-old boy, and is said to earn less than a civil airline pilot.

Broadcasters dug up archive footage of him in training in the past five years, including shots of him spinning in a weightless environment, jogging in a heavy spacesuit and sliding down escape chutes.

This may suggest that he had long been earmarked as a candidate for his latest role as one of an elite first generation of yuhangyuan - also known in the west as taikonauts, from taikong, meaning space.

Col Yang did not appear to lack confidence: his final words before stepping into the capsule were: "See you tomorrow."

Websites were among the first to break the news. Chatrooms were filled with praise for the country's new hero. On a Xinhua news agency forum, one visitor told him: "Your small step is a giant leap for China."

In Beijing, news of the successful launch filtered out slowly because the government blocked plans for a live broadcast. But as video clips of the Shenzhou (divine vessel) 5 were belatedly shown, people on the streets were unanimous in expressing pride in the achievement.

At the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, huge red banners were draped across buildings and between lamp posts, saying: "The Shenzhou 5 has launched China's astronomic dreams. We students must write the next chapter of the country's magnificent history in space."

During a video screening of the launch at a university, hundreds of students cheered when the rocket took off. Some said they were so excited they had not been able to sleep the previous night.

"This is a great moment in China's development," said Jiang Zaoming, a postgraduate studying space flight dynamics.

"Our national perspective has changed. Before we were a nation on the ground looking up, but with this mission we have become a nation in space looking down. It will have a huge psychological impact and give people more confidence in our country."

Others, however, bemoaned the huge financial cost of the project in a country where millions live in poverty.

"Its stupid to get excited about the space programme," said one man. "The reality is that people don't have enough money to buy food and clothes."