Home>News Center>China
       
 

Countdown to second manned space mission
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-10 13:34

JIUQUAN - China is expected to launch its second manned space mission on Wednesday from a remote desert region, swelling national pride and leaving many foreign observers in awe at what the country has achieved.

Countdown to second manned space mission
Shenzhou VI, a spaceship to carry two astronauts into orbit, sits atop of the LM-2F carrier rocket at the launching pad in Jiuquan satellite launch center in northwest China October 7, 2005. It is widely reported that China's second manned spaceship will be launched on October 13. [Nanfang Daily]
The launch of Shenzhou VI has been shrouded in secrecy and is subject to weather conditions, but an official from the technical department of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center said it will happen on Wednesday.

"It is October 12 at 9 am," the official, who refused to be named, told AFP.

The China National Space Administration could not confirm the date. However, a travel agent taking domestic tourists to witness the launch said he had been advised to be at the site early Wednesday morning.

The six astronauts shortlisted for the two-member mission have arrived at the launch pad in Inner Mongolia, the China News Service said, citing engineers at the launch center.

China's state-run press reported that Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng would likely pilot the five-day mission.

It will be almost exactly two years after the successful October 15, 2003 launch of astronaut Yang Liwei into space, making China only the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to accomplish such a feat.

"The Chinese should be very proud of what they are accomplishing," said David Baker, a London-based space policy analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"It's the kind of activity that only a developed and well-organized industrial nation can pull off."

While the Shenzhou technology is based on 1950s and 1960s Soviet science, analysts said it would be wrong to shrug off China's space program.

"If it was easy, China wouldn't be the third country with a manned program," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on Chinas space program at the US Naval War College.

"The technology isn't exactly breakthrough technology, but being able to put it all together and make it work, is sending a message that in fact China has integration skills, it has follow-through capability to build this kind of technology."

   上一页 1 2 下一页  



Fire kills 5 in Northeast China
Aerobatics show in Hunan
Final rehearsal
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

Australia, US, Japan praise China for Asia engagement

 

   
 

Banker: China doing its best on flexible yuan

 

   
 

Hopes high for oil pipeline deal

 

   
 

Possibilities of bird flu outbreaks reduced

 

   
 

Milosevic buried after emotional farewell

 

   
 

China considers trade contracts in India

 

   
  EU likely to impose tax on imports of Chinese shoes
   
  Bankers confident about future growth
   
  Curtain to be raised on Year of Russia
   
  Coal output set to reach record high of 2.5b tons
   
  WTO: China should reconsider currency plan
   
  China: Military buildup 'transparent'
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Next space mission planned for October 13, report says
   
Media identify likely Shenzhou VI taikonauts
   
Second manned space flight set on Oct 13
   
Cold weather may postpone space mission
   
Shenzhou VI ready for launch
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement