Yang Liwei Becomes China's
First Taikonaut
|
|
 |
On April 12, 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he took one hour and 48 minutes to complete a single orbit at a maximum altitude of 187 miles above the Earth. Coming at the depths of the Cold War, this accomplishment was a blow to the United States, whose fledgling space program had suffered many early setbacks. |
| Driven by national pride and a fear of losing "the high-ground of space," the US answered ten months later by launching the Friendship 7, which carried John Glenn on a three-orbit trip lasting almost five hours. |  |
| Since then, citizens of many different nations have orbited the earth. But all of them have been carried aloft either by American- or Soviet/Russian-made rockets. And after the end of the Cold War and the break up of the Soviet Union, the USA and Russia have collaborated in many international launch efforts. |
 |
But now China has become the world's
third "space-age" nation by launching a Yang Liwei into orbit as part of
an entirely Chinese-run program.
The Shenzhou 5 spacecraft (which translates as "Divine Vessel") carried the former air force pilot on a 14-orbit, 21-hour flight.. |