As of 9:00 AM Thursday, China's second piloted spacecraft Shenzhou VI orbited the Earth 16 times, covering 680,000 kilometers in space in their first-day space flight.

"They were in outer space above north Africa 24 hours after lift-off," said Xi Zhen, director of the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, Thursday.

Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, the two astronauts aboard Shenzhou VI, have set a record of distance covered in a single day by Chinese.

Yang Liwei, who piloted the first Chinese manned spaceship, Shenzhou V, two years ago, flied about 600,000 kilometers in space, in 21 hours and 23 minutes.

Xi said the space vehicle Shenzhou V is now traveling at a speed of 7.820185 kilometers per second, on an elliptical orbit 343 kilometers above the Earth. It covers 42,229 kilometers in one circle around the Earth.

Pictures the spacecraft sent back show Fei and Nie looked relaxed in their first 24 hours in space, talking to each other occasionally. Sometimes, the spacemen let notebooks, cameras and watches fly in front of them, to enjoy their movements at zero gravity.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2005)