Beijing, June 29 (Xinhua-ANI): Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday delivered a congratulatory note from the central authorities, celebrating the successful landing of the country's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft.
The central authorities express congratulations to the astronauts who successfully completed this mission and all people engaged in the mission, reads the note sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council and the Central Military Commission.
The successful rendezvous and docking between the target orbiter Tiangong-1 and the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft marks a significant breakthrough in China's space docking technology, and it also marks decisive progress in fulfilling the second strategic target of China's manned space program, reads the note.
Shortly before Wen delivered the note at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Chang Wanquan, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, announced that the space rendezvous and docking mission has achieved complete success.
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft has landed safely at the main landing area in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region and all three astronauts onboard are in good physical condition, said Chang.
The success of the docking mission also constitutes a new achievement in China's effort to build an innovation-driven country, a new significant step in China's scientific development, and an important contribution to human exploration of the outer space, said Wen.
This is of major and far-reaching significance to boosting China's comprehensive national strength, invigorating the nation, and inspiring the whole nation to strive for new victories in building a moderately prosperous society in a all-around way and pushing forwad the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, he added.
The contributions of Chinese aerospace scientists and working staff will be remembered by the country and its people, he said.
The pursuit of scientific progress is a never-ending journey, and there remains a long way to go in exploring outer space, he said, expressing hopes that more efforts will be made to boost the leapfrog development of China's space program.
The safe return of the Shenzhou-9 marked the end of the nearly two-week space docking mission, which will pave the way for the country's establishment of a permanent manned space station around 2020.
Wen and other senior leaders, including He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang, watched the return of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center Friday.
Shenzhou-9, which was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 16 with China's first female astronaut onboard, successfully completed the country's first manual docking between the spacecraft and the orbiting Tiangong-1 lab module. (Xinhua ANI)
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