China put its first man in space on yesterday, sending a single astronaut on a 21-hour odyssey around the Earth four decades after the Soviet Union and the US pioneered manned space flight.
The Long March 2F rocket carrying "taikonaut" Yang Liwei (楊利偉) lifted off into a clear blue sky over the Gobi desert at 9am and entered its predetermined orbit 10 minutes later.
Official media quickly declared the launch a success.
"I feel good," Yang said from space as the Shenzhou V (神舟五號), or "Divine Ship V," was making its first circuit around the Earth.
The official Xinhua news agency said by late afternoon the vessel was in its sixth of 14 planned orbits and had successfully shifted its course prior to landing early today.
Yang, 38, is part of a historic mission which, if successful, will make China just the third nation to put a man into space and bring him back to Earth -- over 40 years behind the former Soviet Union and the US.
At the Jiuquan Space Center in Inner Mongolia, onlookers clapped and cheered as the Shenzhou V lifted off.
More than 1,000km away in the capital, pride mixed with relief as state television broadcast delayed pictures of the launch.
The Shenzhou V gave a boost to the leaders of the world's most populous nation. President Hu Jintao (
"We look forward to your triumphant return," Hu said.
The launch highlighted the emerging power of China, a permanent UN Security Council member now pursuing more active diplomacy, one of the world's fastest growing economies and chosen host of the 2008 Olympics.
"It is a show of muscle, a show of power to the region," said Tai Hui, an economist with Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, playing down the economic significance.
Earlier, Yang, decked out in his space suit, headed for the launch past rows of beaming, balloon-carrying children who had come to see him off. Once in the capsule he reviewed a flight manual and appeared "composed and at ease," Xinhua said.
Yang, who follows a trail blazed by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and American astronaut Alan Shepard in 1961, was due to orbit the Earth 14 times and touch down in Inner Mongolia at 6am today, Xinhua said.
In the afternoon, the spaceship successfully shifted from its initial elliptical orbit to a circular orbit 343km from Earth, an essential step for an accurate landing, Xinhua said.
Yang, a lieutenant-colonel in the People's Liberation Army, was chosen from a pool of 14 as the country's first taikonaut -- from the Chinese word for space.
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