Published on : 15/10/2024

On October 15, 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei(楊利偉) was launched from the Shenzhou 5(神舟五號) spacecraft.

This was China's first manned spaceflight and Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space, making China the third country in the world to independently master manned spaceflight technology.

At 9:00 a.m. that day, the Shenzhou 5 manned spacecraft was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, and returned safely to the main landing site after 14 revolutions in space, lasting 21 hours and 23 minutes.

The mission of Shenzhou 5 was to assess the spacecraft's manned environment, obtain data on the environment and safety of astronauts' life in space, and comprehensively assess the performance, reliability, safety and coordination of various systems. In space, Yang Liwei completed more than 110 operations accurately and precisely according to the plan.

In addition, the orbital module of the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft stayed in orbit for half a year, obtaining a large number of scientific experimental results.

In addition to Yang Liwei, the Shenzhou 5 return capsule also carried a number of special cargoes, including a Chinese national flag of special significance, a flag with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emblem, a United Nations flag, as well as Renminbi (RMB) coin samples, commemorative stamps for China's first manned spaceflight, a commemorative cover for China's manned spaceflight project, and crop seeds from Taiwan, among other things.