Frenzied fanfare greets two astronauts as China unveils novel space horizon

Frenzied fanfare greets two astronauts as China unveils novel space horizon
It's the time for a tryst with destiny, it's the hour of reassertion of excellence, and it's a moment for celebration – as two astronauts from China's Shenzhou VI, the second manned space voyage, touched down safely in the Chinese portion of the northern Inner Mongolia region, at 4.32 a.m (2032 GMT) on Monday.

40 year old Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, 41, orbited the Earth 76 times in this 115.32-hour space journey spanning for five days, since last Wednesday, covering 3.25 million km. The two colonels of People's Liberation Army were greeted with flowers; cheers and traditional Chinese drum show, after their arrival at the western suburbs airport of Beijing at 9.28 a.m on Monday.

Nie's hometown in Central Hubei erupted with joy and revelry, as Fei's mother wept in bliss and the proud father declaring the motherland as “so great”- Xinhua news agency reported.

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The colossal success of the space mission has already ignited the kindling fire of aspiration of China, as Xinhua describes in flowing words, the progression of China from a poor, backward country to a prosperous, ambitious nation marching forward in the quest to conquer new horizon. Indeed China has traversed a long, winding way to reach a position where the nation has already sent over 50 satellites into orbit, including quite a many for international clients.

China's second manned mission has cost about $2.3 billion, in sharp contrast with NASA's $ 16 billion budget for 2005 alone. Colonel Yang Liwei successfully completed the first manned mission in October 2003, when he circled the Earth 14 times aboard Shenzhou V.

Amidst all the mirth and revelry, China hasn't forgotten the chief objective behind the mission, economic benefits garnered by the space mission for her 1.3 billion people. According to the China Business newspaper, the repeated successful launches of manned spacecraft would facilitate China's earning an excellent breakthrough in the commercial aerospace market of the world.

Beijing's next human voyage, including a spacewalk, will be launched in 2007, succeeded by the formation of an orbiting space station, that could be realized within the next five years. As time moves on, China indeed gallops forward towards a new horizon, .