¡¡¡¡JIUQUAN (Gansu Province), March 25 (Xinhuanet) -- China launched its third unmanned spaceship, "Shenzhou III", which can carry out all the functions of a manned craft, at 22:15 (Beijing Time) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province.

¡¡¡¡At the launch site in the remote northwestern Gobi desert, Xinhua reporters witnessed a white "Long March II F" carrier rocket, stamped with the five-star national flag and the giant characters of "China Aerospace", attached to the 100 meter-high launching pad.

¡¡¡¡The rocket carried the coniform-shaped spacecraft, which was both created and manufactured by Chinese space scientists and technologists, into a preset orbit.

¡¡¡¡Wang Yongzhi, leading designer of the China Manned Space Program which includes a series of test flights expected to lead to a first manned space mission, said that "Shenzhou III" is "technically suitable for astronauts".

¡¡¡¡A set of metabolic simulation apparatus, human physical monitoring sensors and dummy astronauts have been installed aboard the spaceship, Wang said.

¡¡¡¡"After getting those important scientific data, scientists could improve the craft's life-support systems," he said.

¡¡¡¡The successful launch of "Shenzhou III", consisting of an orbital module, returning module, propulsion section and accessional section, laid a more solid base for the country's manned space endeavor in the future, he said.

¡¡¡¡Zhang Jianqi, director of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center,said that space scientists for the first time tried the escape system, which could save the lives of astronauts, during the launch.

¡¡¡¡"Astronauts must be perfectly safeguarded in any possible space flight," said Zhang who also supervised the test launch.

¡¡¡¡Compared with the last launch of this kind on January 10, 2001,the launch of "Shenzhou III" was more advanced technically, featuring a launch monitoring system.

¡¡¡¡"New technologies employed in the test launch further improve safety and reliability in future flights," Zhang said.

¡¡¡¡Qi Faren, chief designer of the Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology, said that during the craft's outer-space travel in coming days, a series of scientific and technological experiments are scheduled to be carried out in "Shenzhou III".

¡¡¡¡Scientists with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have planned trials in life sciences, space materials, space astronomy,space physics and microgravity research, Qi said.

¡¡¡¡After separation from the returning module, the orbital module will continue circling around the earth for several months.

¡¡¡¡Officers in charge of the China Manned Space Program said that Shenzhou's flight was being tracked and controlled from the Beijing Aerospace Direction and Control Center, Xi'an Satellite Monitoring Center and a fleet of four monitoring vessels, which have been deployed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.

¡¡¡¡On November 20, 1999, the country's first unmanned spacecraft "Shenzhou" took off into space and orbited 14 times around the earth during a 21-hour journey. "Shenzhou II", which was basically identical to a manned spacecraft, flew seven days in outer space.

¡¡¡¡The officers said that China has been training its first group of astronauts. Enditem

¡¡¡¡-- by Xi Qixin and Yu Zheng