BEIJING - Two astronauts on China's second manned space flight landed before dawn Monday, shown live on state television as they emerged from their capsule smiling and waving at the end of a five-day mission meant to burnish China's global standing.
Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng were "in good health" after the Shenzhou 6 capsule touched down by parachute at 4:32 a.m. local time in China's northern grasslands, just a half-mile from its target, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
State television showed the astronauts climbing out of their kettle-shaped capsule with the help of two technicians and clambering down a ladder in the predawn darkness. They smiled, waved to cheering members of the ground crew, accepted bouquets of flowers and sat in a pair of metal chairs beside the capsule.
