Launch from Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center and landing on the grasslands of the Gobi Desert, 157 km north of Hohhot in central Inner Mongolia (in Dorbod Xi).

Shenzhou-5 was the first Chinese manned spaceflight. China became the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight capability after the Soviet Union (later Russia) and the United States. President Hu Jintao attended the launch.

Yang's first message from space was, that "everything goes smoothly" and that he felt good. During the mission he had two resting times of each three hours. The Shenzhou is based on the three seat Russian Soyuz capsule, but with extensive modifications.