Shenzhou 5 (simplified Chinese: 神舟五号; traditional Chinese: 神舟五號; pinyin: shénzhōu wǔ hào) — was the first human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program, launched on 15 October 2003. The Shenzhou spacecraft was launched on a Long March 2F launch vehicle. There had been four previous flights of unmanned Shenzhou missions since 1999. China became the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight capability after the Soviet Union (later, Russia) and the United States.