Chinese astronauts Fei Junlong (L) and Nie Haisheng after they landed in China’s Inner Mongolia region. (AFP)

Beijing, Oct. 17 (Reuters): China’s second manned spacecraft returned today after orbiting the Earth for five days as patriotic fervour gripped the nation and the media hailed the mission as a symbol of the country’s technological prowess.

Astronauts Fei Junlong, 40, and Nie Haisheng, 41, were flown to Beijing where they were given a hero’s welcome after their Shenzhou VI space capsule touched down in the remote steppes of the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.

The two astronauts were in good health after orbiting the Earth 76 times covering 3.25 million km. State media hailed the mission as a breakthrough marking China’s emergence as a major technological power.

Soon after the craft touched down at 2033 GMT, barely 1 km from its target, jubilant residents in Fei’s and Nie’s home towns set off firecrackers and performed traditional dragon and lion dances, banging gongs and drums. “The motherland is so great!” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Fei’s father as saying. Fei’s mother wept on learning of his safe return.

State television showed the astronauts emerging unaided, pausing atop the charred re-entry craft to wave to the recovery team, cameramen and photographers.

Tang Xianming, director of the Manned Space Engineering Office, said that China would aim for a spacewalk by 2007 and consider putting a woman in space in the near future.

A patriotic propaganda campaign, in full swing even before the spacecraft landed, went into overdrive.