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| China becomes third spacefaring nation: AP |
| | www.chinaview.cn 2003-10-15 10:39:42 |
GOBI DESERT, Oct. 15 (AP) -- China
launched its first manned space
mission on Wednesday, becoming the third
country in Earth's history
to put a man in orbit _ four decades after the
Soviet Union and the
United States. "I feel good," China's instant hero
radioed back to
mission control.
It was the culmination of a
decade of efforts by China's
military-linked manned space program _ and a
patriotism-drenched
moment for a communist government more concerned than
ever about its
profile on the world stage.
With a column of
smoke, the Shenzhou 5 craft cut across a bright,
azure northwest China sky at
exactly 9 a.m. (0100 GMT). The official
Xinhua News Agency immediately
confirmed the launch and said the
astronaut was air force Lt. Col. Yang
Liwei, 38.
Yang entered orbit at 9:10 a.m. (0110 GMT), the
government said.
Xinhua said he was "reading a flight manual in the capsule
of the
Shenzhou-5 spacecraft and looked composed and at
ease."
"Shenzhou 5 is operating normally in orbit," said
Li Jinai,
chief commander of the country's manned space program, quoted
by
Xinhua.
The launch makes China the third country to put a
human into
space. The former Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin up in 1961;
the
United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr. less than a month
later.
John Glenn became the first American in orbit in 1962.
In the United States, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin
congratulated China.
"We wish them success and for their
astronaut's safe return," she
said.
Security was tight around the remote Gobi Desert base,
some 280
kilometers (175 miles) northeast of Jiuquan.
On
Wednesday morning, the only road to the launch site was
crowded with traffic,
including military vehicles and civilian tour
buses. But private cars were
turned back and phone calls to the base
were blocked.
China
kept details of the event secret, saying in advance only
that the launch
would take place between Wednesday and Friday and
that the astronaut would
orbit the Earth 14 times.
China Central Television One, the
government's flagship station,
cut into programming to announce the launch;
28 minutes later, the
station showed Shenzhou streaking into the sky and
disappearing, its
tracer billowing behind it.
"I feel
good," Yang radioed back from space after a half-hour
in
flight.
An announcer on the English-language government channel
CCTV-9
invoked American astronaut Neil Armstrong's words upon first
walking
on the moon. If China's earlier unmanned space launches "were
small
steps," the announcer said, "then now we are taking a giant
leap
into space."
The Shenzhou 5 launch came after four
test launches of unmanned
capsules that orbited the Earth for nearly a week
before parachuting
back to China's northern grasslands. State media say the
manned
flight is expected to last about 20 hours.
"The
launch of Shenzhou 5 is long-awaited by the Chinese
people," Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said earlier. She
said the flight was a key step in
the "peaceful development of
space" _ a reflection of China's effort to
reassure the world that
its military-linked program is
benign.
The Shenzhou, or "Divine Vessel,"is based on the
three-seat
Russian Soyuz capsule, though with extensive modifications.
China
also paid Moscow to train at least two astronauts.
But
Beijing insists everything sent into space will be developed
and made in
China. State media, trying to dispel suggestions that
its triumph depends on
foreign know-how, refer to Shenzhou as
"China's self-designed manned
spaceship."
Xinhua released a picture of Yang, a pilot
since 1983, boarding
Shenzhou 5 about 8 a.m. (0000 GMT)
Wednesday.
"I will not disappoint the motherland. I will
complete each
movement with total concentration. And I will gain honor for
the
People's Liberation Army and for the Chinese nation,"the
popular
Chinese Web site Sina.com quoted Yang as saying.
Sohu
said Yang was selected Tuesday from a pool of three
finalists. The astronauts
have been training for years, and the
field of candidates was narrowed from
14 in recent days.
Xinhua quoted space officials Tuesday
assuring the public that
the astronauts' space suits were safe and the Long
March CZ-2 F
booster was China's ``best rocket.''
After
months of official silence, the government showed growing
confidence over the
past week, announcing that the flight would
blast off some time between
Wednesday and Friday and splashing
pictures of the once-secret launch base
across newspapers.
But the decision to cancel a live broadcast
suggested leaders
might be unnerved by the thought of the propaganda disaster
that an
accident could produce. The People's Daily Web site gave
no
explanation for the decision to cancel.
China used to
broadcast satellite launches live, but stopped in
1995 after a rocket blew up
moments after liftoff, reportedly
killing six people on the
ground.
The Gansu Daily, published in Lanzhou, capital of the
province
where the ship was launched, welcomed the
accomplishment.
"Finally," it said, "the time has come to
realize the
1,000-year dream of flying dreamed by the sons and daughters
of
China." Enditme
(Associated Press) |
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