Premier Wen hails success of astronauts' return

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-29 07:38

Premier Wen Jiabao applauds after reading out the congratulation speech on China's first-ever spacewalk mission at Beijing Space Command and Control Center in Beijing on September 28, 2008. [Xinhua]

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao celebrated the successful return of Chinese astronauts who had completed the country's third manned space mission on Sunday.

Together with other senior officials and officers at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC), Wen watched the re-entry of Shenzhou VII space module to Earth in a live transmission.

After the the module landed in China's northern grassland and the three astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng moved out of the spaceship by themselves, Wen congratulated the victory with the technical staff members and operators in the center.

Delivering a congratulatory note from the central authorities, Wen said the mission was "a victory of the Chinese space and technological field and a monumental achievement in the socialist causes".

Premier Wen Jiabao (L) shakes hands with an engineer at Beijing Space Command and Control Center in Beijing on September 28, 2008. [Xinhua]

The astronauts were lifted into space at 9:10 pm Thursday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, where the country's first two manned space missions took off in 2003 and 2005.

The three astronauts came back from a 68-hour flight, included a historic 20-minute spacewalk of Zhai Zhigang on Saturday.

Their spacecraft circled Earth 46 laps before descending at the Siziwang Banner in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 5:37 pm Sunday.

The astronauts were taken to a hospital in the Inner Mongolian capital Hohhot for medical examination and would be flown to Beijing on Monday for a two-week quarantine.