Shenzhou V launched: China joins space powers

[Shyriath]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/10/15/china.launch/index.html

'(CNN) -- China's first astronaut has said he "feels good" and all systems are working normally as he continues his flight around the Earth, state media reported.

Yang Liwei, 38, was blasted into space aboard the Shenzhou V spacecraft at 9:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) from the Jiuquan launch site in China's western Gobi Desert.

...

The flight makes China only the third country in the world to launch a manned spacecraft into orbit, some four decades after the Soviet Union and the United States first achieved the feat.'

Good show! Another country steps on the path to the future!