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The spacecraft Shenzhou-15, or "Divine Vessel", and its three passengers lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 11:08 p.m. on Tuesday amid sub-freezing temperatures in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, according to state television. Shenzhou-15 was the last of 11 missions, including three prior crewed missions, that began in April 2021 needed to assemble the "Celestial Palace", as the multi-module station is known in Chinese. The trio will take over from the Shenzhou-14 crew who arrived in early June. The previous crew members are expected to return to Earth in early December...

A one-year lunar fly-by mission may start in April 2007 in China, but a manned flight to the Earth's neighbour may be a long way away, a chief lunar exploration scientist said last night. "Sending a man to the Moon? It would be a one-way ticket if we do it now, given the thrust of our rockets at present is not strong enough," Luan Enjie, commander-in-chief of the country's lunar exploration programme, said jokingly. But the country is planning to develop even more powerful rockets in the future, he added. Luan was talking to the press at the end of...

Xinhua - SHENZHOU-6 RE-ENTRY MODULE TOUCHES DOWN AT 4:32 MONDAY MORNING 17/10 - TAIKONAUTS REPORT FEELING GOOD, MAIN PARACHUTE WORKING WELL 17/10 - PRIMARY LANDING SITE REPORTS NORMAL RETRIEVAL OPERATIONS 17/10 - GROUND STATION RECEIVES SIGNAL FROM SHENZHOU-6 17/10 - HELICOPTER POLITS REPORT RE-ENTRY MODULE IN SIGHT 17/10 - TAIKONAUTS UNFURL MAIN PARACHUTE 17/10 - SHENZHOU-6 10 KM ABOVE GROUND, MAIN PARACHUTE TO BE UNFURLED 17/10 - RETURNING SHENZHOU-6 BREAKS THROUGH BLACKOUT AREA 17/10 - SHENZHOU-6 RE-ENTRY CAPSULE CAUGHT BY RADAR 17/10 - SHENZHOU-6 RE-ENTRY CAPSULE ENTERS BLACKOUT AREA 17/10

China bans coverage of blast-off By Catherine Armitage, China correspondent15oct03 China can only hope its first manned spacecraft, expected to orbit Earth for 23 hours after a probable launch this morning, is better at spin than its Government. In the elite two-nation club of spacefaring nations, disaster comes with the territory. But fear that a mishap will turn its biggest propaganda event in years into a public-relations catastrophe seems to have prompted the Chinese Government to ban live coverage of the launch from the remote Gobi desert site. That, inevitably, has become the story, in the non-official media at...

China Details Space Safety Measures for Manned Missions By Associated Press posted: 04:10 pm ET 31 March 2003 BEIJING (AP) -- China has installed comprehensive safety systems allowing its "taikonauts" to escape their spacecraft if there is an emergency, state media said Monday. China is planning its first space launch later this year and said the safety measures are meant to prevent a disaster similar to that which destroyed the space shuttle Columbia Feb. 1 as it re-entered the atmosphere. Seven astronauts were killed. The safety systems are designed to rescue taikonauts from danger or mishaps at any time during...

China's first astronaut revealed By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor China has revealed the identity of its first astronaut who will go into space by the end of the year. He is Chen Long, a trained pilot who was selected for astronaut training in 1996. Chinese authorities have released a picture of him in training at the time of the Shenzhou 4 launch in January 2003. According to the Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily, he will be the only crew member aboard Shenzhou 5, the first Chinese manned spaceflight, planned for October 2003. There has been...