Monday, October 17 2005 10:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Shanghai: The top Chinese leadership today (Oct 17, 2005) praised the second successful manned space mission of then country, stressing the event signaled a 'landmark progress' of the nation's space technology.

They were speaking after the successful completion of the mission by spacecraft Shenzou-6 which brought the two astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng back from space.

China's top legislator and number two Communist party leader, Wu Bangguo along with other Politburo Standing Committee members who watched the successful landing of Shenzhou-6 at the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, praised the efforts of the space scientists.

Wu, chairman of the Standing committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), declared China's second manned space mission a 'complete success,' said 'it signifies landmark progress of China's space technology and great achievement of China's space experiments.'

"The successful mission is of great significance for elevating China's prestige in the world and promoting China's economic, scientific and national defence capabilities, and its national cohesiveness," he said.

Wu read a congratulatory message from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council, and the Central Military Commission.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was present at the launch on October 12 while Chinese President Hu Jintao talked to the two astronauts on Saturday.

China's second manned space mission comes after the country launched its national into space in October 2003, putting the country in an exclusive club that has only two other members the United States and Russia.

The message congratulated both the astronauts and urged them to further contribute to China's manned space flight technology.

The space capsule landed in the grasslands in Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia at 4:33 a.m. (02:03 hrs IST), and the commander-in-chief of the space programme, Chen Bingde, announced that the 'mission is a complete success'.

State television showed the two Chinese astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, as hale and hearty.

Fei and Nie stepped down a ladder from the capsule by themselves, and were seated for a bouquet of flowers to get used to gravity conditions on the ground.

"We feel fine," said the smiling Fei. Nie thanked all the Chinese people for their 'concern and support.'

Both waved flowers to the excited welcoming crowd of Chinese rescue workers.

Fei said that he and his colleague Nie were satisfied with the working conditions in the spacecraft Shenzhou-6, which they piloted for a 115.5-hour space voyage, according to a China Central Television report.

Chief designer of China's manned space programme, Wang Yongzhi said the successful flight of the nation's second manned spacecraft indicated the country's scientists had mastered the technology for multi-person, multi-day space mission.

This is of 'great importance' to the country's manned space programme in the next step, Wang said after the safe landing of the re-entry capsule of the craft, which was launched Wednesday morning from the Jinquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu province.