¡¡¡¡JIUQUAN, China, Oct 15 (AFP) - China Wednesday launched an astronaut into
space aboard the Shenzou V craft in a historic mission which catapults the
country into an elite club alongside Russia and the United States.

¡¡¡¡The Long March II F rocket carrying the capsule blasted into clear skies
from the remote Gobi desert in north China's Inner Mongolia at 9:00 a.m. (0100
GMT) for a 21-hour flight that will see the craft orbit the Earth 14 times.
Shenzou V went into preset orbit 10 minutes after take-off as China became
just the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to
put a man in space 42 years after Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's epic flight.

¡¡¡¡Russian Gagarin was the first human in space on April 12, 1961 in a flight
lasting 108 minutes. Days later on May 5 American Alan Shepard spent just 15
minutes on a suborbital flight.

¡¡¡¡People's Liberation Army Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei, 38, was at the
controls Wednesday and reported 34 minutes into the flight that he "feels good"
and that the craft was operating normally.

¡¡¡¡"I feel good, see you tomorrow," Yang, a fighter pilot with more than 1,300
hours flight time, was quoted as saying.

¡¡¡¡Chinese President Hu Jintao, who watched the blast-off at the Jiuquan
Launch Center, hailed the successful launch as "the glory of our great
motherland" and an "historic step" for the Chinese people.
The Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese space officials as saying the maiden
manned flight was a "success".

¡¡¡¡"The spacecraft and the carrier rocket seperated at around 9:10 a.m. and
the spacecraft entered its present orbit," said an official in charge of the
manned space program.

¡¡¡¡Hu Shixiang, vice director-general of China's manned space program, said:
"Today, our long-held manned space flight dream has finally come true."
State media said Shenzhou V is expected to land near Siziwang, some 100
kilometres (62 miles) north of the Inner Mongolian capital Hohhot, early
Thursday.

¡¡¡¡The mission caps a highly secretive 11-year manned space program codenamed
Project 921 that has cost billions of dollars and comes as the United States
agonises over its own manned space flights following the loss its second
shuttle Columbia in February this year.

¡¡¡¡The secrecy continued up to the launch with the government pulling the plug
without explanation on a live broadcast.

¡¡¡¡The Shenzhou, or "Divine Vessel," is based on the three-seat Russian Soyuz
capsule, which the Soviets first launched some 36 years ago, albeit updated in
key areas such as the life-support and computer systems.

¡¡¡¡Beijing however insists everything sent into space is developed and made in
China. China's successful quest to join the exclusive club also comes as the
United States struggles with its own space program following the Columbia
disaster.

¡¡¡¡NASA has yet to give a date for the resumption of its shuttle flights.
The Chinese launch is also seen as significant because the country has now
achieved something other leading satellite launchers, such as the European
Union, Japan and India, have not.


(AFP)