China prepares for second manned space launch
China plans to launch a pair of astronauts into orbit on its second manned space flight, using the occasion to trumpet its ambitions as a global power.
State media say the launch might happen on Thursday – almost exactly two years after the first Chinese manned space mission in 2003 – but the date hasn’t been confirmed by the government.
Foreign reporters are barred from the remote launch base in the Gobi Desert in China’s Northwest.
A handful of Chinese journalists, including some from Hong Kong, are to be on hand for the lift-off, but have been warned they might be ordered to hand over any photos or video – a possible image-control measure if anything goes wrong.
The communist government attaches enormous national prestige to its space program, which is closely linked to the secretive military.
The government justifies the expense of manned space flight by saying it will help drive economic and technological development.
China’s first space flight in 2003 gave the communist leadership bragging rights as only the third government to send a human into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States.
The manned space programme appeals to nationalist sentiment, helping the Communist Party shore up its public standing amid widespread frustration over corruption and a growing gulf between the country’s tiny economic elite and its poor majority.
The plan this week is for two astronauts to blast off aboard the Shenzhou VI capsule.
Three two-member teams of astronauts have arrived at the base near the city of Jiuquan, and the crew for the launch will be picked following a final battery of medical and psychological tests, the state newspaper Wuhan Evening News reported today.
The Shenzhou – or Divine Vessel – capsule is based on Russia’s three-seat Soyuz, though with extensive modifications.
Space suits, life-support systems and other equipment are based on technology purchased from Russia, though Beijing says all items to be sent into space are Chinese-made.
China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s and fired its first satellite into orbit in 1970. It regularly launches satellites for foreign clients aboard its giant Long March boosters.
In its first manned flight, a rocket carrying Col. Yang Liwei, a former fighter pilot, blasted into orbit in October 2003. Yang orbited the earth for 21-and-a-half hours and returned a national hero.
Chinese space officials say they want to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010 and build a space station.
