This follows the success of the unmanned test flight
Avi Blizovsky
China hopes to launch its first manned flight during 2003, according to a senior official at the Chinese Space Agency. If it succeeds, it will become the third country with the ability to launch humans into space. The director of the Shanghai Space Center, Yuan Zhi said that the project has already entered the stage of final assembly and testing.
The space program is a source of pride in China. The launch may take place in the second half of 2003, he told the semi-official Chinese News Agency. China has already launched into space a spacecraft capable of carrying humans. The fourth such launch of the Shenzhou 4 spacecraft took place on Monday this week. The President of China, Jiang Zemin said that this is a great victory.
In today's China, space flight is a matter of national pride, as it was 40 years ago for the USA and the Soviet Union.
In April, the Shenzhou 3 spacecraft was launched for a week-long flight, and its lander returned safely and landed on Earth. To distinguish them from the Russian cosmonauts and the American astronauts, China uses the term ticonaut for space crew members, a term derived from the word taikong - which means space.
Shenzhou 4 has all the systems needed for manned flight and the Xinhua news agency reported that Tikonauts were training in the three-person vehicle.
Shenzhou's first test flight was in November 1999 when a spacecraft circled the Earth 14 times in a 12-hour mission designed to test the re-entry and landing systems.
Shenzhou 2 launched in January 2001 circled the Earth 108 times and tested life support systems. She placed a monkey, a dog, a rabbit and slugs on the track. She returned a week later while maintaining media silence, which made Western experts suspect that there had been a malfunction back. The Chinese denied this.
Shenzhou is based on Russian space technology, but has undergone many changes by Chinese engineers. At least two Tikonauts have been sent to Russia for training, although China has released few details about the crew involved in Project 921 - the space program's code name.
Shenzhou means "heavenly ship" or more precisely "divine ship".
Beijing will join the exclusive club of the USA and Russia, and it will launch into space "Taikonauts" - the Chinese version of astronauts.
Fear: tensions with Washington will worsen
2/1/2003
The Chinese government stated today (Thursday) that during 2003 it will launch a manned spacecraft into space for the first time. By doing so, Beijing is about to join the exclusive club of countries that have launched manned flights into space - a club that so far only includes the USA and Russia.
An official source in Beijing confirmed today that the first "technonauts" - the Chinese version of the American astronaut or the Russian cosmonaut - will leave the atmosphere during the coming year.
In the last two years, China has launched into space four spacecraft of the "Chenzo" series - which means "divine vehicle". Chanzo 4 was launched into space at the beginning of the week, and it has been orbiting the Earth for the fourth day. Yuan Ji, who is in charge of the government space office in Shanghai, said that the next spacecraft in the series will probably be launched in the second half of 2003 - but this time, it will be manned.
More than 1.2 billion Chinese around the world received the news with excitement on the occasion of the New Year, and the headlines of newspapers in the communist country were devoted to the local space program. The launch of a manned spacecraft should march China to the forefront of the international stage, and perpetuate its status as a giant power.
However, the acceleration of the Chinese space program could exacerbate tensions between it and the West. This is in light of the fear that the project, in the development of which Moscow is involved, will also be used for military purposes.
As you remember, the "Cold War" between the USA and the USSR revolved around the space race. The Soviets were the first to send a man outside the Earth - Yuri Gagarin did it on April 12, 1961. However, their American rivals preceded them in the "conquest of the moon" with the "Apollo 11", in the summer of '69. The huge investments in the space program played a decisive role in paralyzing the economy of the USSR, in preparation for its dissolution.
For news at the BBC
