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China To Launch ShenZhou Within Days: Beijing
Hong Kong (AFP) Mar 22, 2002 China will launch the third test flight of its fledgling space program within days, sending a model of an astronaut into orbit in preparation for a future manned mission, it was reported Friday. The Shenzhou III (Divine Vessel III) craft will take off from the Jiuquan Space Launch Center in northwest Gansu province in "a couple of days" the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper said, citing unnamed sources at the launch site. The vessel will be sent into orbit by a Long March 2F carrier rocket, the report said. The launch date had not been affected by the worst sand storms in years to hit the region, which have swept the northwest of China, including Beijing, over recent days, the sources added. China's space program, which aims to make the country the third nation to put a human into space after the United States and the former Soviet Union, is notoriously secretive and rarely publicizes launches in advance. Earlier this month Chinese state press said the third flight was imminent, but conceded that an astronaut would not be put into space until next year at the earliest. The Shenzhou III launch had been delayed because of problems with "product quality", leading space administrator Hu Shixiang told the China News Service at the time. The first unmanned test flight of the Shenzhou program was in November 1999, when the Shenzhou I orbited the earth 14 times in a 12-hour mission aimed mainly at testing launch and re-entry capabilities. The Shenzhou II, launched on January 9, 2001, orbited the earth 108 times and tested life support systems before returning nearly a week later to a press blackout that left Western analysts suspecting a re-entry failure. Chinese officials denied this. Space officials have said that a goal of China's manned space program is to put a Chinese astronaut on the moon one day. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology China News from SinoDaily.com
Taikonauts On Moon A Far Off Dream For China Yet
Beijing (XNA) Jan 05, 2006A one-year lunar fly-by mission may start in April 2007 in China, but a manned flight to the Earth's neighbour may be a long way away, a chief lunar exploration scientist said last night. |
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