The special plane with the two taikonauts (Chinese term for astronauts) aboard took off for Beijing at around 8:40 Monday morning for at the primary landing site of Shenzhou VI spacecraft in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The taikonauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng boarded a special plane for Beijing some three hours after they landed safely in the northern China grasslands Monday morning.

Shortly after their landing, the two taikonauts went through a medical checkup and had a light meal with chocolate and Chinese herbal tea served in a first-aid helicopter.

Both said they are satisfied with the working conditions during the 115.32-hour space voyage which covered 3.25 million kilograms.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2005)