 A Shenzhou Capsule Lands Safely
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July 23, 2003 — China is on schedule to launch its first manned spacecraft in October, becoming only the third nation to send a human into orbit, officials involved in the program said Wednesday.
"The current plan is that Shenzhou V will be launched in October but it is very hard to say the exact date," an official at the China Rocket Research Institute told AFP. "Many factors will affect the decision."
An official surnamed Zeng from the space department of the China Great Wall Industry Corp. confirmed that the craft would blast off in October.
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"The Shenzhou V spacecraft will be launched in October. We are not sure of the exact date," he said.
Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper this week cited official sources as saying the launch would be sometime in the next 100 days.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. told AFP in January that the highly-anticipated mission would happen in October. But Chinese officials contacted by AFP Wednesday refused to comment, saying it was "top secret."
If all goes well, China will become only the third country to put a human into space, more than four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
It remains unclear, however, how many astronauts will be on board the maiden flight.
The first Soviet and U.S. missions were both one-man missions in order to reduce the risk if something went wrong in the nascent days of space travel.
Fourteen former fighter pilots, each with more than 1,000 hours flying experience, have been in training as astronauts "for years," official media has previously reported. Two were sent to Russia's cosmonaut school.
Space experts believe the Shenzhou is a copy of the Soviet-era workhorse, the Soyuz, albeit enlarged and updated in key areas such as the life-support and computer systems.
Chinese officials however have denied this, saying the spaceship is totally designed by China.
China has so far launched four unmanned space missions.
The latest one, Shenzhou IV, returned to the frozen wastes of Inner Mongolia on Jan. 5 after a 162-hour mission in which the craft was fully equipped with all the prerequisites for a manned flight, even carrying spare clothes astronauts might need.
China has made clear it wants to expand space exploration and plans a unmanned mission to the moon within 30 months, Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar exploration program, said in March.
Officials have also said there are plans to accelerate preparations for a probe to Mars.
The country's desire to compete in space with other world powers has become a mammoth undertaking. Since the secretive military-run space program was set up in 1992, it has grown to employ tens of thousands of scientific, manufacturing and planning staff in more than 3,000 factories.
It has been estimated that 19 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) has so far been spent.
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