An Olympic flag that orbited the Earth for five days with two Chinese astronauts in Shenzhou VI was taken from the returned reentry capsule and unfurled at a ceremony in Beijing yesterday.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said in a congratulatory letter that "by taking the Olympic flag into outer space, you have shown the entire world the commitment and involvement of the People's Republic of China in the promotion of the Olympic values and ideals."

Liu Jingmin, executive vice-president of the Games' organizing committee, said the triumph of China's second manned mission would inspire and encourage Beijing to strive for a successful Olympics.

The flag was among 64 packages removed from the tightly-guarded capsule at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, which developed Shenzhou VI.

They included a Chinese flag that had been taken by Chinese scientists on a polar expedition, a flag for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, stamps and art works by children and artists.

There were also logos of Goldlion Holdings Ltd and other companies.

Zhang Bainan, Shenzhou VI's chief designer, said the articles weighed less than 20 kilograms.

Qi Faren, a senior astronautic engineer, said they had nothing to do with the experiments that had been carried out in space, and China Daily reported that no equipment used in them was taken out at the ceremony.

Yuan Jiajun, academy president, said researchers were studying the large quantity of data obtained during the mission.

The capsule was taken to Beijing on Tuesday after landing safely with astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region early on Monday.

(China Daily October 20, 2005)