I didn’t think that it would take until 2003 for China to launch it’s first astronaut into space! Yang Liwei has used his experience and expertise to help resolve design flaws in the next generation of Shenzhou spaceships, leading to the successful landing of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng’s spacecraft. I knew that the American’s went to the moon in the 60s but the Chinese got into space in the 60s. On October 15, 2003, China successfully launched its first astronaut into space, making it the third country after the United States and Russia to do so. Asked by Wiki User. Programmes on Chinese state television were interrupted to announce the successful launch. In all seriousness, space has always been so interesting to me. An interesting article about the first Chinese astronaut on the moon! Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, has told CCTVNEWS that he feels more pressure in the control room than in space. With a Long March-II-F carrier rocket pushing Shenzhou V into the orbit some 300 kilometers away from the Earth Wednesday morning, Yang Liwei, 38, turns out to be China 's first astronaut in space. Most products in the world are now created in China and as an ABC, it makes me proud to know that the country my parents grew up in is no longer a poor struggling immigrant plant, but a rich successful empire. I’m surprised it took China until 2003 to reach space. However, I’m glad that progress was and is currently being made in space – I think it’s beneficial for humanity as a whole to go to space. I can’t imagine the type of training Yang Li Wei had to done to be in space for 21 hours. Thank you Joanne for this enlightenment. Recently, I went to space camp at NASA and had so much fun participating in space simulations and missions. It’s amazing how much work Yang Li Wei put into training, and in the end paid off. I never knew China was the third country to get to space. After reading this article, I was amazed at just how many obstacles that Yánglìwěi had to go through in order to even make it into space. Closely-guarded secret. Lastly, I like how a visual image of the astronaut in the space shuttle was included. On October 15, 2003, Yang Liwei launched into space on a Long March 2F… This was an amazing article, thanks for sharing! This article especially interesting since I like space. See Answer. China announced that 18 people - 17 men, 1 woman, all of whose names were not revealed - had been selected as new astronauts. The first Chinese astronaut, 杨利伟(Yánglìwěi), was able to orbit Earth 14 times before returning from space. I think it is good hat his space flight had minimal issues and any tha were there were solved. Yang Liwei (2L), the first Chinese astro NEW YORK, UNITED NATIONS: Yang Liwei (2L), the first Chinese astronaut, presents United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan (R) with a UN flag 19 May 2004 at the United Nations in New York City. Today, I have not heard a lot about China’s space explorations, and wonder what advancements in technology have been made today. He had to carry his countries hopes and dreams while suffering from all of the problems while flying. [2] In 2003, Yang Liwei was launched aboard Shenzhou 5, becoming the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. First solo man in space who was neither Soviet/Russian nor American. This is just really cool. There was a design error, but thankfully 杨利伟 escaped without any major injuries. A well written piece on the first Chinese astronaut. Born on June 21, 1965, Yánglìwěi joined the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and graduated from aviation college in 1987. Yang, 168 cm tall, is a lieutenant colonel. “I am proud of becoming a member of the manned space flight project team and being able to witness the development of my country’s space technology and industry. First in a Chinese crew to achieve manned spacecraft docking. Today, he is a major general and has won numerous awards around the world for his efforts and contributions to future space missions. I also can’t believe that he would become a general in the future. Recently, China has been working to improve the world, like those solar panels from another article, and this is another one of the ways they are doing it. Yánglìwěi worked very hard to get here because he went through rigorous training.