© 2025 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service since 1975
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Register to attend the 50th anniversary and Constitution Day events! (click the title)
Sept. 16, 5:30 PM Raising Politically Engaged Kids
Sept. 17, 11 AM The Constitution: From Principles to Practice - 5:30 PM The First Amendment Under Stress
Sept. 18, 6 PM Radio That Listens to You: 50 Years of NPR Illinois

China Launches Manned Space Flight

By Rob Gifford
Published October 14, 2003 at 11:00 PM CDT
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'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.

Tags
NPR Top Stories
Rob Gifford
Rob Gifford is the NPR foreign correspondent based in Shanghai.
Related Stories