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International

China Launches Manned Space Flight

By Rob Gifford
Published October 14, 2003 at 9:00 PM PDT
This story was published more than 21 years ago.
China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, 38, boards the Shenzhou 5 space vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in the northwestern province of Gansu, Oct. 15, 2003.
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China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, 38, boards the Shenzhou 5 space vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in the northwestern province of Gansu, Oct. 15, 2003.

China launches its first manned space flight, becoming just the third nation to rocket a man into orbit. The Shenzhou 5 space vehicle blasted off Wednesday from northwest China carrying one astronaut. NPR's Rob Gifford reports.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

International
Rob Gifford
Rob Gifford is the NPR foreign correspondent based in Shanghai.

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