Shenzhou Manned Mission Set For Next Week

China will try to put a man in space October 15th, ending weeks of speculatoin on when its secretive space program will launch its first manned Zenzhou mission.  That word comes from Chinese television.

We have been told our live broadcast of the launch will be on the 15th," a China Central Television news center official told the French news agency AFP. "But we do not know the exact time of the launch on the day."

Becoming only the third nation ever to put a man in space has been a dream of the Chinese since the 1960s. But the Cultural Revolution put the kibosh on early aspirations. It's only been in the last dozen years or so that China has truly geared up its space program. It's modeled the Zenzhou ("Divine Vessel") spacecraft after the Russian Soyuz. It's modeled its "taikonaut" spacesuits after the suits cosmonauts wear. It's launched four unmanned missions, claiming all were successful.

Xie Guangxuan, director of China Rocket Design Department, told the Chinese news web site Sina.com: "China's space technology has been created by China itself. We may have started later than Russia and the US, but it's amazing how fast we've been able to do this."

The launch, reportedly set for next Wednesday, is the first step in China's dream to become a major space power. The communist government in Beijing plans a lunar exploration and mining program and is eyeing manned missions to Mars as well. China has also initiated talks about joining the International Space Station project.

There are also security implications in a Chinese manned space program. The United States' reliance on its GPS satellite constellation makes that array an item of military interest.

After only four test flights using unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou V will be launched using a Chinese Long March rocket from Jiuquan Space Launch Center in Gansu, northwest China. The capsule will parachute back to Earth somewhere in Inner Mongolia.

Xie Guangxuan said mission controllers are worried most about the period during re-entry when, at an altitude of 60 miles, communications with the capsule are briefly lost.

FMI: www.cnsa.gov.cn