China's first astronaut to meet UN chief

BEIJING (AFP) May 18, 2004
Yang Liwei, China's first man in space, is scheduled to meet United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and present him with two UN flags that were on board his spacecraft during his historic flight, state media said Tuesday.

Yang has left for the United States as part of a delegation of representatives from China's first manned space mission, according to Xinhua news agency, which did not say when exactly they would meet Annan.

Yang orbited the Earth 14 times in October last year, putting China alongside the United States and the former Soviet Union as the only countries in the world to send a man into space.

SPACE.WIRE