Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, was in good physical health after his historic mission,thorough medical checkups showed Friday.

Yang received surgical, internal medical tests as well as other checkups and all the results showed he was in good physical condition, sources with a Beijing-based aerospace medical engineering institute said.

His convalescence period could be shortened from seven days to two or three days, an official source said.

Shenzhou-5, China's first manned spacecraft carrying the 38-year-old astronaut, lifted off at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Yang spent 21 hours in space traveling more than 600,000 km, as the 241st human being in space. He landed at the preset primary landing area in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 6:23 a.m. Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2003)