| A Long March 2F rocket blasted off from the Gobi desert launch pad at 0900 (0100 GMT), and the Shenzhou V spacecraft was orbiting Earth 10 minutes later.
The craft, carrying a single astronaut, Yang Liwei, is expected to circle the planet 14 times, returning to Earth after a flight of about 22 hours.
President Hu Jintao was present for the launch, and said it was "the glory of our great motherland and a mark for the initial victory of the country's first manned space flight". Colonel Yang's Shenzhou V craft touched down on 16 October in northern China, 21 hours after being rocketed into space.
His return fulfils China's bid to become only the third country to send a man into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
This coin is a depiction of the above event, a piece of history. Coin measures 40mm in diamter and is a collector's dream |
