President Hu Jintao hailed China's success in putting its first
manned spacecraft into orbit Wednesday, calling it "the glory of
our great motherland and a mark of the initial victory of the
country's first manned space flight and for the significant,
historic step of the Chinese people in the advance of
climbing the peak of the world's science and technology."
The Party and the people will never forget those who have set up
the Motherland's space industry with outstanding merit, or the
people and the nation, said Hu, who is also the general secretary
of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
China's first piloted spacecraft Shenzhou V was launched at
9:00 am and moved into orbit at about 9:10, carrying Lieutenant
Colonel Yang Liwei to become the first Chinese astronaut
in space.
The president and other senior officials including Huang Ju and
Wu Guanzheng hurried to the Jiuquan Space Launch Center, in the
remote Gobi desert, shortly after the conclusion of the Third
Plenary Session of the Sixteenth CPC Central Committee Tuesday
afternoon. The same night, they heard reports about the preparation
for the historic launch.
(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)
