THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
China's Taikonaut completes 21-hour orbital mission

In a triumph that impresses the bosses of the Communist party and Loral (though not much more than that), Lt. Colonel Yang Liwei's Shenzhou V space capsule landed safely in the grasslands of China's Inner Mongolia province (though laying on it's side isn't as sexy as floating upright in the warm pacific ocean), culminating a successful 14-orbit manned space mission which makes China only the third nation in history to send a manned presence into the heavens.

China's program, which comes over forty years after Soviet Union and the United States pioneered the feat, has been bought and paid for rather than developed and relies largely on Soviet Soyuz tech that has been customized.

Chinese space officials are outlining an ambitious program consisting of spacewalks, space rendezvous, and ultimately, perhaps a journey to the moon.

MEMO TO CHINA: BEEN THERE. DONE THAT. GOT THE T-SHIRT. WANNA SEE THE ROCKS?