Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Wednesday congratulated China on its first successful human space flight.

"This launch is an important achievement in the history of human exploration. China, after Russia and the United States, is only the third nation to successfully launch humans into space," O'Keefe said in a statement.

"The Chinese people have a long and distinguished history of exploration. NASA wishes China a continued safe human space flight program," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)