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The next Chinese astronaut launch is drawing closer. Shenzhou 6 will take off in a few months (probably October) with a two-man crew on board. The mission will stay aloft for roughly five days, representing an approximately tenfold increase in China's total man-hours aloft from the previous mission. China has stated that the mission will feature easily removable spacesuits, enabling the crew to operate in shirtsleeve comfort for much of the mission. They will also make use of the relatively spacious Orbital Module at the front of the spacecraft, providing extra room for the astronauts and their equipment. China has...

Last Updated: Friday, 15 April, 2005, 10:24 GMT 11:24 UK   China rocket man held for bribery   Li Jianzhong was influential in the 2003 Shenzhou V mission Li Jianzhong, a key figure in China's successful space programme, has been arrested on bribery charges, state news agency Xinhua has reported.Mr Li, former head of China's launch vehicle maker CALT, is alleged to have taken more than $200,000 in bribes and to have embezzled nearly $19m. CALT builds China's Long March rockets, one of which powered the manned Shenzhou V craft into space in 2003. Investigations into Mr Li started...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, which last year became the third nation to blast a man into space, plans to send two astronauts up on a five-to-seven-day mission in 2005 and later build a space station, state television reported on Saturday. Wang Yongzhi, chief designer of the nation's secretive manned space program, told CCTV preparations for the launch of the two-person Shenzhou VI craft were proceeding smoothly. Last October, solo astronaut Yang Liwei circled Earth 14 times during a 21-hour trip aboard the Shenzhou V, a name meaning "Divine Ship." A previous report by the semi-official China New Service had said...

<p>Its confidence in space travel rising, China on Wednesday announced plans to send two more astronauts into orbit within the next two years on the country's second manned mission.</p> <p>The announcement, carried by the official Xinhua News Agency's Web site, was the most detailed information yet on China's plans for its next space launch aboard the ship that would be called Shenzhou 6. Xinhuanet cited the Chinese manned space program's chief designer, Wang Yongzhi.</p>

Tens of thousands of young Chinese professionals working for China's manned space project are becoming experienced and increasingly important for the country's future in the space sector, senior space experts say. Qi Faren, 70, chief designer of China's spacecraft, said a group of well-educated young professionals with good managerial skills were trained during the development of the vessel, which is more valuable than the successful manned space mission itself. China's first astronaut Yang Liwei returned to the Earth on Oct.16 after orbiting the planet 14 times in 21 hours, making China the third country capable of independently putting a person...

On Oct. 15, 2003, China joined the United States and Russia as a country capable of putting humans in space. The launch of that country's "taikonaut," Yang Liwei, harkened back to the launch on Oct. 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite, and on April 12, 1961, of Yuri Gagarin, the first man into space — both ahead of the United States. Those events spurred America into a space race with the Russians that led to America's historic lunar landings. Today the U.S. government's reaction to China's challenge should not be a new space...

<p>Why would the regime that runs China, which restricts both the foreign and domestic travel of its own people, insist on building rocket ships to send members of the People's Liberation Army into space?</p> <p>Unravel this riddle wrapped in a mystery, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, and you will discover the secret at the center of one of the greatest security risks facing the United States in the coming decades.</p>

Before China launched the Shenzhou V spacecraft, a struggle developed between former president and military commission chairman Jiang Zemin and President Hu Jintao regarding who should attend the launch. In the end, it was Hu who appeared at the launch site, and Premier Wen Jiabao who declared the return a success. Jiang was merely the third person to deliver his congratulatory speech. Everything progressed according to the "rules" in order to prove that the party and the nation carry more weight than the army. Jiang is at a disadvantage in these intra-party struggles. Looking at the bigger picture, however, the...

'Whether you like it or not, history is on our side," a threatening Nikita Khrushchev warned a group of Western diplomats in Moscow in 1956, adding: "We will bury you." Two events last week should warn us that, although the Soviet Union never succeeded in burying the West, Communist China might. For if history is on anyone's side at the moment, it seems to be moving in favour of Beijing's totalitarian rulers. The astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times in 21 hours last Wednesday, adding China to the elite club of America and Russia as the only three...

<p>Can China, with only a fraction of the gross national product of the United States, actually beat America in manned space exploration over the next decade and more? The answer is yes, easily and for many reasons.</p> <p>China's space program shows every sign of using reliable, mature and inexpensive technology rather than bankrupting itself on showy but dangerous and vastly overambitious technology, such as the U.S. manned space program has relied upon for more than two decades with the space-shuttle program.</p>

BEIJING (AP) -- The fighter pilot who made China's first trip into space last week has been promoted, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday amid efforts by the communist government to make Lt. Col. Yang Liwei a national hero. Yang's promotion to full colonel was approved several weeks ago, but his superiors did not tell him until after he returned Thursday from his 21 1/2-hour space flight, Xinhua said. "The promotion decision was made for his excellent performance as a member of the team during recent years," the agency said. However, it said, "His superiors decided not to inform...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. China became the third country to send a man into space last week, with the successful launch of the Shenzhou 5 rocket. The launch comes 42 years after manned spaceflight was pioneered by the former Soviet Union and the United States. The long delay begs the question, what makes manned space travel so difficult? The Shenzhou 5 successfully landed on grassland in Inner Mongolia on Thursday morning after about 21 hours of space flight. The Chinese "taikonaut" got out of the capsule-shaped spacecraft, waving and smiling to the waiting cameras. It...

The creator of the original "Star Trek" made his 23rd century crew diverse: It had an African communications officer, a Scottish chief engineer, a Russian navigator, a Japanese helmsman — and, of course, a Vulcan science officer. But on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, when the show debuted in 1966, a Chinese was nowhere to be found. And that was hardly surprising. China then was, to much of the Western world, a communist menace led by an erratic despot. With the Vietnam War escalating, few Americans captivated by the brushed-metal modernism of spaceflight could — or wanted to —...

BEIJING - There is no space race or cold war, but China's success in sending an astronaut into orbit last week is a reminder that any modern aspirant to world power down on Earth ultimately ends up in space. The reasons are ego and potential plunder, but also the fact that the world's most powerful nations fear that space could one day be a setting for war. If that sounds like science fiction, consider this passage: "We know from history that every medium - air, land and sea - has seen conflict. Reality indicates that space will be no different."...

<p>October 19, 2003 -- China has joined the United States and Russia as the only nations to launch a man into space.</p> <p>The accomplishment of Yang Liwei can't be understated. He is now a hero in his homeland - and rightly so.</p>

MANILA: US President George W Bush said he did not see China’s space programme as a threat, rather as a sign the Asian giant is emerging as a sophisticated country, according to an interview released on Saturday. “It’s an interesting development,” Bush told Channel News Asia in the interview released by the White House. “No, I don’t view it as a threat.” China’s first man in space returned to Earth on Thursday, completing a historic odyssey four decades after the Soviet Union and the United States pioneered manned space flight. “I think it’s a country that’s now beginning to emerge...

Spy in the sky China's first manned spacecraft did more than simply showcase Beijing's efforts for civilian space flight. The Shenzhou 5, or Divine Vessel 5, spacecraft also conducted intelligence-gathering work for China's military. Included on the top of the Long March 2F rocket, which boosted Shenzhou into orbit Tuesday, was a new Chinese military intelligence-gathering satellite. The satellite was placed in orbit successfully shortly after the Shenzhou began its 14-orbit mission. No mention of the satellite launch was made in the state-run Chinese press. Additionally, defense officials said the single-astronaut spacecraft carried an infrared camera that conducted photographic spying....

MANILA (Reuters) - President Bush said he did not see China's space program as a threat, rather as a sign the Asian giant is emerging as a sophisticated country, according to an interview released on Saturday.``It's an interesting development,'' Bush told Channel News Asia in the interview released by the White House. ``No, I don't view it as a threat.''China's first man in space returned to Earth on Thursday, completing a historic odyssey four decades after the Soviet Union and the United States pioneered manned spaceflight.``I think it's a country that's now beginning to emerge as a sophisticated country. And...

Muted celebration speaks of practical leaders who would not squander money and resources on grandiose ceremonies Daily life came to a standstill as tens of thousands of jubilant Chinese in every city across the country streamed onto the streets, setting off firecrackers, beating drums and gongs, and chanting: 'Long live Chairman Mao!' They were celebrating, belatedly, the successful launch of China's first satellite, Dongfanghong 1, which took place a day earlier but was not announced publicly until that day. Fast forward to Oct 15, 2003. There was no live telecast, but news of the successful launch of China's first astronaut...

American Physical Society: SPACE RACE: SHENZHOU-5 VERSUS MERCURY-5. (supports China and Xlinton space giveaway) Friday, October 17, 2003 1. SPACE RACE: SHENZHOU-5 VERSUS MERCURY-5. On Wednesday, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-5 space capsule into orbit with taikonaut Yang Liwei on board and returned him safely to Earth after 14 orbits. The first American to reach orbit, John G lenn, circled Earth a mere three times in the Mercury-5 capsule - 3 years before Yang was born. And this is only the beginning; China hopes eventually to construct a permanent base on the moon. Americans should welcome China's new direction. Sending...