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China Reentry Capsule Paves Way To Manned Mission
Beijing - November 21, 1999 - China's first experimental spacecraft, part of its manned space flight program, has completed a short mission in space touching down in Inner Mongolia, Xinhua said Sunday. Named "Shenzhou" by President Jiang Zemin the space craft landed at 3:41 a.m. (1941 GMT Saturday), the official news agency said. The vehicle was launched with a new model "Long March" rocket at 6:30 a.m. Saturday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, it said. A Chinese 'Long March' rocket takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province 20 November 1999, carrying the country's first experimental spacecraft. The space craft, named 'Shenzhou' by President Jiang Zemin, is part of China's manned space flight program and has completed a short mission in space touching down in Inner Mongolia. Xinhua/AFP Photo Ten minutes after takeoff, the spaceship detached itself from the launching vehicle and entered a preset orbit, it said. The short flight was "another milestone in China's astronautical history, the successful launching and retrieval of the spaceship marks the country's new major breakthrough in manned space flight technology," Xinhua said. The report gave no details of the type of vehicle launched. The spacecraft was developed and manufactured mainly by the China Research Institute of Carrier Rocket Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology and Shanghai Research Institute of Astronautical Technology, it said. The Beijing-backed daily Wen Wei Po in a report late last month said a 10-tonne craft would be launched from the newly set up satellite launching pad in Jiuquan in "the near future," citing experts in Beijing. Scientists have already developed ways to retrieve the empty capsule, which is capable of carrying passengers, it said. Reports of China's capability of launching a manned space mission to the moon have been widely reported in Chinese media in recent months. Some reports have said China's first manned space flight is scheduled for the beginning of next year. China has launched nearly 300 satellites into space since the early 1970s, some 25 commercially.
Copyright 1999 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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