JIUQUAN, China -
and Premier Wen Jiabao spoke with Yang and congratulated him.
Shenzhou 5 landed at 6:28 a.m. and rescue helicopters found the capsule. The station released an image of the capsule.
The landing came after a 21-hour mission in which Shenzhou 5 orbited the Earth 14 times. Though the government has been very secretive about its space program, it offered frequent glimpses of Yang throughout the trip and repeatedly said everything was going fine.
The completion of the mission was the crowning achievement of an 11-year, military-linked manned space program promoted as a symbol of national prestige both at home and abroad.
Helicopters and trucks rushed to retrieve Yang. Earlier reports said the astronaut would be armed with knives and possibly a gun to protect himself against wild animals and other threats in the Inner Mongolian grasslands where the ship was to touch down.
Xinhua said the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center sent a message at about 5:35 a.m. today to Shenzhou 5 instructing it to return as planned. Shenzhou 5, shown on a three-dimensional screen in the mission control center, made a gentle turnaround upon receiving the order, Xinhua said.
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