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Russian Space Agency invites China's 1st spaceman to moon flight (Xinhua) Updated: 2005-08-20 10:41
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) on Friday invited China's first
spaceman, Yang Liwei, to make a space flight to the moon aboard the promising
Russian Kliper shuttle, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The head of Russia's space agency Anatoly
Perminov, left, hands over a souvenir, a statuette wearing a space suit,
to China's first man in space, Col. Yang Liwei shortly after he was
presented with Russia's space agency award named after Soviet cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, seen on Liwei's jacket, during their
meeting in Moscow, Friday, Aug. 19, 2005. China's first man in space met
with Russian space officials on Friday, discussed cooperation between the
two countries and said he would enjoy flying aboard a new spacecraft
Russia is designing. [AP] | The invitation was
offered by the head of Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, at a meeting in the day with
the Chinese taikonaut.
Taikonaut was coined to refer to Chinese astronauts, who are called
cosmonauts in Russia.
Perminov asked Yang: "Would you like to fly in space aboard Kliper, say, to
the moon and back?"
The head of Russia's space agency Anatoly
Perminov, left, presents China's first man in space, Yang Liwei
with Russia's space agency award named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin, the first man in space during their meeting in Moscow, Friday,
Aug. 19, 2005. [Xinhua] | "Sure, as a professional
taikonaut," Yang was quoted as replying.
According to the Roskosmos chief, the first flight of the manned Kliper
shuttle is scheduled for 2012.
"Complete flight qualification of the shuttle" will be made within the next
three years. Then, it will be the main transportation vehicle for cosmonauts,"
he said.
One of the crew on board Kliper would be a pilot responsible for docking and
another for landing of the spaceship. The four others would be passengers, he
said.
Yang Liwei, China's
first space man, waves to the recovery teams after walking out of the
return capsule of the Shenzhou V spaceship Thursday morning, October 16.
[Xinhua/file] | When asked which of the two pilots he
would like to be, Yang answered: "I'd like to try flying both as the left and
the right pilot."
During the meeting, Yang was also awarded a "Gagarin medal", which is special
for personages contributing to international friendship.
Yang arrived in Moscow on Monday for a visit at the invitation of the
Roskosmos. He has visited the Cosmonauts' Training Center, the Energia Space
Corporation, the Mission Control Center and the International aerospace show
MAKS-2005, which was opened a few days ago in Zhukovsky outside
Moscow.
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