|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
China to put man in space this year'Peaceful development of the outer space'
BEIJING, China -- China plans to become the third nation to put people in space later this year, following the successful launch of an unmanned spacecraft earlier this week. Official Chinese media reported Thursday that a manned flight of Shenzhou V is scheduled for the second half of 2003, with preparations for that flight having now entered the assembly and testing phase. Yuan Jie, director of the Shanghai Aerospace Bureau, was reported by the China News Service as saying the flight of Shenzhou IV on Monday had laid a solid foundation for the coming manned space mission. "Shenzhou IV represents the country's most sophisticated and fullest preparation so far to realize the nation's long-cherished dream of manned space flight," Yuan is reported saying. Sources from the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center said all experiments carried on Shenzhou IV had been running well, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Shenzhou IV, which boasts a complete system needed for human space flight, will orbit for a few days before landing, state media have said. China's first astronauts will be experienced jet fighter pilots drawn from the ranks of the nation's air force. They have been training for several years for the mission. According to The Associated Press, China has sent at least two astronauts to Russia for training, and more may now be training there. The Shenzhou series of spacecraft is based on the Russian Soyuz design.
Monday's liftoff was the 27th consecutive successful launch of Chinese-made rockets since October 1996. There have been four Shenzhou -- meaning "sacred vessel" -- unmanned spacecraft launched since 1999. The Chinese space program is a source of great pride to the nation and is regarded as a tangible sign of the China's progress since the introduction of economic reforms over the past two decades. Earlier this week, President Jiang Zemin called for the continuing development of the space program, saying the Shenzhou launch was a "great victory." Jiang encouraged all involved to "redouble their efforts and work in a pioneering spirit to make more contributions to the peaceful development of the outer space," Xinhua reported him saying. In 1961, the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a person in space. The United States followed in 1962, and by 1969 had successfully landed a man on the moon. More recent space efforts by the U.S. have concentrated on launching the re-usable space shuttle which sends supplies to the international space station. (Full story) The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
