BEIJING, Oct 17 (AP) -- The newly returned crew of China's second manned space mission received a heroes' welcome Monday morning in Beijing, riding in an open car in a nationally televised parade through a military base past cheering soldiers.

Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng flew to a military airport on the Chinese capital's western outskirts from their landing site in the country's northern grasslands.

They were greeted on the tarmac by Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and fellow members of the astronaut corps, one of whom hugged them with tears in his eyes. They then boarded a flower-decked bus to the military base.

Thousands of soldiers and groups of schoolchildren lined the route through the military base, waving Chinese flags and balloons. A band dressed in traditional costumes banged drums and cymbals as a military band played martial music.

Fei and Nie, wearing white gloves and blue jumpsuits with the red Chinese flag on the chest, grinned and waved to the crowd. A soldier gave them floral wreaths that they wore around their necks.

"Welcome the space heroes," said a banner hung along the route.

The event, shown live on state television, was a striking departure from China's first manned space flight in 2003, when astronaut Yang Liwei was shown flying back to Beijing but then disappeared back into the secretive, military-linked space program and didn't appear again in public for three weeks.

There was no indication when Fei and Nie might appear in public.