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China's first 'taikonaut'
15/10/2003 07:25 - (SA)
Beijing - The Chinese astronaut who soared into orbit on Wednesday and became an instant national hero is a diminutive fighter pilot with two decades of experience who has promised not to "disappoint the motherland".
Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei, 38, a pilot for the People's Liberation Army air force since 1983, clambered into Shenzhou 5 with a tentative smile and a wave as technicians gently pushed down on his helmet so he wouldn't hit his head.
As state television showed earlier tape of Yang running, testing the craft's escape chute and doing calisthenics, he had been in orbit for 20 minutes and was poring over a flight manual, looking "composed and at ease," the official Xinhua News Agency said.
"I feel good," Yang radioed back from space after a half-hour in flight. He told his doctor that his blood pressure and other vital signs were "normal."
The identity of China's first "taikonaut" - after "taikong," the Chinese word for space - was not made public until the launch took place. Still, state-controlled media expressed certainty in the hours before lift-off that it would be Yang.
The 1.68m Yang, who comes from a family of teachers in Liaoning province in China's industrial northeast, joined the PLA at age 18 and graduated from the air force's No 8 Aviation College. He entered the astronaut program in 1998. He is married with an eight-year-old son.
He has 1 350 hours of flight experience, the government says. Colleagues describe him as "miraculously dedicated," Xinhua said.
Yang was picked over two other finalists for the flight, Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng, also air force pilots. They had been selected from a pool of 14 in China's first astronaut corps.
Yang's clothing in flight consisted of 14 layers that took 15 minutes to don with the help of technicians, said the general commander of the astronaut programme, Su Shuangning. Yang's space suit cost more than 100 million yuan (about R84m), Su said.
Yang entered the re-entry module of Shenzhou 5 at 06:15 (22:15 Tuesday GMT) and started his final preparations for the lift-off. For his 14 orbits, he is spending about 20 hours in the craft, which is 8.86m tall and weighs 7,790 kg.
"All life data indicate that Yang's conditions are good," the government quoted mission control as saying more than an hour into the flight.
He will be eating freeze-dried shredded pork with garlic sauce and fried rice, and has a sleeping bag for naps, state television said.
He works for the Aviation Military Unit of the People's Liberation Army, Chinese media said.
Chinese astronauts are known as "yuhangyuan," or "travellers of the universe". "Taikonaut" is their English nickname.
- AP
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