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)
