One after another, the miners climbed into a missile-like steel capsule barely wider than a man's shoulders and took a 15-minute journey through 2,000 feet of rock to the surface.

All of the miners were freed Wednesday night in a rescue operation that advanced rapidly without hitches.

The return of the six rescuers who went down to help the miners followed and was concluded about two hours later. A rock was unceremoniously placed atop the lid of the emergency shaft.

Earlier, scenes of jubilation erupted each time a miner arrived to a hero's welcome above the San Jose gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert.

The last miner out was Luis Alberto Urzua, 54, the shift foreman credited with helping the trapped miners endure 17 days in isolation before Chileans discovered the men had survived the mine collapse.

"We have done what the entire world was waiting for," he told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera immediately after his rescue. "The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing."

The last miner out was Luis Alberto Urzua, 54, the shift foreman credited with helping the trapped miners endure 17 days in isolation before Chileans discovered the men had survived the mine collapse.

"We have done what the entire world was waiting for," he told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera immediately after his rescue. "The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing."

After 69 days underground, including more than two weeks during which they were feared dead, the men emerged to the cheers of exuberant Chileans and before the eyes of a transfixed globe.

The capsule-rescue operation got faster as it went along, and all the men were safely above ground in 22 hours, 37 minutes, after it started.

The rescue workers who talked the men through the final hours were being hoisted one at time to the surface.

Story: Nuggets from the Chilean mine

"Welcome to life," Pinera told Victor Segovia, the 15th miner out, and on a day of superlatives, it seemed no overstatement.

Others pulled out included Yonni Barrios, whose home life became an issue when his wife confronted a mistress who had also gone to the mine to keep vigil. His wife had refused to be there for the rescue, but the mistress did attend, giving Barrios a big hug.

His sister, Lidia Barrios Rojas, earlier told London's Daily Telegraph that "he says quite simply that he loves them both, that they are both important to him and he wants them to be friends with each other."

Health Minister Jaime Manalich said some of the miners probably will be able to leave the hospital Thursday — earlier than projected — but many had been unable to sleep, wanted to talk with families and were anxious. One was treated for pneumonia, and two needed dental work.

The miners jubilantly embraced wives, children and rescuers, and looked remarkably composed.

The anxiety that had accompanied the final days of preparation melted away just after midnight local time when the stoutest of the miners, Florencio Avalos, 31, emerged from the missile-like rescue capsule smiling broadly after his half-mile journey to the surface.

Video: Watch journey from inside rescue capsule

In a din of cheers, he hugged his wife and sobbing 7-year-old son, and then Pinera, who has been deeply involved in a rescue effort that has become a matter of national pride.

It had not been planned for Avalos' family to join rescuers at the opening of the shaft, but young Bairon had other ideas and insisted on being there.

"I told Florencio that few times have I ever seen a son show so much love for his father," Pinera said. "Hopefully the spirit of these miners will remain forever with us ... This country is capable of great things."

Avalos, second-in-command of the miners, was chosen to be first because he was in the best condition. He has been so shy that he volunteered to handle the camera rescuers sent down so he wouldn't have to appear on the videos that the miners sent up.

An hour later, Mario Sepulveda, 40, the most ebullient of the bunch, was lifted out. He hugged his wife, Elvira, and then jubilantly handed souvenir rocks from his underground prison to laughing rescuers.

I'm so happy!" Sepulveda yelled, grinning, punching his fist in the air and hugging everyone in sight.

Sepulveda later said he had spent the last 10 weeks "between God and the devil."

"They fought, God won," he added.

Like the wives on the surface who had their hair and nails done for the occasion, the men looked groomed

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Oct. 13, 2010