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Next space mission planned for October 13, report says
(AP/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-09-26 13:52
China's second manned space mission - and its
first to carry two astronauts - is due to launch on October 13, weather
permitting, and return five days later, a media report said. AP reported.
Technicians make
final examinations and tests of China's second manned spaceship Shenzhou
VI at Jiuquan satellite launch center in Gansu Province. It is set to be
launched on October 13 at the
earliest. |
The launch of Shenzhou VI is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Base, in the Gobi desert in northern China, with the mission lasting 119
hours if all goes according to plan, the China News Service reported on
Sunday.
It said midday was chosen as the launch time to improve safety and allow
launch personnel enough time for final preparations, unlike some past unmanned
missions that pushed off in the night and predawn hours.
"The main reason is to provide greater safety for the astronauts because
these spaceships are manned spaceships," the report said.
China has announced plans to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010 as
well as operate a space station.
China's first manned space flight in October 2003 made it the third country
able to launch a human into space on its own, after Russia and the United
States.
Col. Yang Liwei, a former fighter pilot, orbited the
Earth for 21 1/2 hours aboard the Shenzhou V capsule before landing in China's
northern grasslands.
The report said the landing site for
Shenzhou VI will again be the grasslands in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
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