China became the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight capability after the Soviet Union (later, Russia) and the United States.

It reentered Earth's atmosphere at 06:04 (UTC+08:00) on 16 October 2003 (22:04 UTC 15 Oct 2003), its parachute opened normally and the astronaut said he was feeling fine.

[5] The Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center later declared China's first crewed spacecraft mission to be successful after Yang Liwei emerged from his capsule.

"[6] In addition, Yang reported abnormal vibrations that appeared 120 seconds after launch (pogo oscillation), which he described as "very uncomfortable".

[10] Both the Chief Executives of Hong Kong and Macau sent letters congratulating all the people involved in the mission and also the central government.

[11][12] General Secretary and President Hu Jintao, in an official celebration at the Great Hall of the People, hailed China's success in launching its first crewed spacecraft into orbit, describing it as "an honour for our great motherland, an indicator for the initial victory of the country's first crewed space flight and for an historic step taken by the Chinese people in their endeavor to surmount the peak of the world's science and technology".