Two Chinese astronauts returned to Earth today following that country's second manned space flight that lasted five days in space.
Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng were "in good health" after the Shenzhou 6 capsule touched down by parachute at 432a.m. local time in China's northern grasslands, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
They were met by crews who rushed to the site in helicopters and off-road vehicles.
State television showed the astronauts climbing out of their capsule with the help of two technicians and clambering down a ladder in the predawn darkness.
They smiled, waved to cheering members of the ground crew, accepted bouquets of flowers and sat in a pair of metal chairs beside the capsule.
Fei and Nie blasted off Wednesday from a base in China's desert northwest, almost exactly two years after the first Chinese manned space flight made this only the third country to send a human into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States.
In contrast to this week's mission, China's first manned space mission was shrouded in secrecy, with none of it broadcast live, a decision that blunted the effort's propaganda value.
AP