¡¡¡¡BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Shenzhou-5 successfully completed orbit shift at 15:57 (Beijing time) Wednesday and is flying on a circular orbit 343 kilometers from the Earth, according to a report by Astronaut Yang Liwei and the monitoring result.

¡¡¡¡According to the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, the spacecraft has shifted from the elliptic orbit with a perigee of 200 kilometers and an apogee of 350 kilometers to a circular orbit 343 kilometers away from the Earth.

¡¡¡¡The orbit shift is crucial to the on-track flight of the spaceship and the precise landing.

¡¡¡¡At 15:52, commanders at Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center inquired about conditions of the astronaut and Yang Liwei reported that the air-tightness of the spacesuit was good and the spaceship was in normal operation.

¡¡¡¡At 15:54, the orbit shift procedure started. The three-dimensional screen at the control center shows a plume of orange flare ejected from the rear end of the spaceship, indicating that the spaceship picked up speed and soon moved into a state of stable flight. In the whole process, Yang Liwei remained calm. Then, the Yuanwang No. 2 monitoring vessel in the South Pacific transmitted back data, showing that the orbit shift succeeded.

¡¡¡¡During the flight, the spaceship will carry out such experiments as in space environment exploration and in the micro-gravity levels, according to the command center. Now the experiments are under way. Enditem