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China's First Astronaut Visits U.N., Presents Flag to Kofi Annan
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 10:30 am ET
20 May 2004
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Untitled United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei Wednesday on the first day of his visit to the United States. During the visit, Yang presented Annan with a flag of the world body that he took with him on his mission last October. Congratulating China for its first successful manned space flight, the Secretary-General told a small delegation that included Beijing's Ambassador to the UN, Wang Guangya, that it was a "great achievement" watched by all the Chinese people and people around the world. "Space travel always excites the imagination," the Secretary-General said upon receiving the UN flag from Colonel Yang. "We in this organization have taken a very keen interest in space, particularly in the peaceful uses of outer space." This was Yang's first stop in a multi-day tour of the United States that will bring the "taikonaut" to NASAs Kennedy Space Center, among other locations. Yang actually brought two UN flags with him on his space flight on October 15, 2003. During the mission, Yang displayed the smaller of the two flags, measuring 4 by 6 inches, during a live broadcast from Earth orbit. The larger, 4-by-6-foot flag was stowed aboard the Shenzhou capsule for the flight. Both flags were provided by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and were notarized as flown by the Beijing Notarization Office. On Monday, May 24th, Yang and his delegation will tour NASAs Kennedy Space Center, a source familiar with the tour told SPACE.com. The tour was requested and organized by the Florida Spaceport Authority, lead by former astronaut Winston Scott. Neither NASA nor the Florida Space Authority would comment on Yang's trip.Other stops along Yangs tour were said to include Washington, DC and Houston, Texas. Specific details of his schedule were being kept quiet by Chinese authorities.
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