World | Other World Stories
China sets exact time for space launch
China is counting down to 9.10pm on September 25 for its third manned space flight that will include a space walk, local media reported on Friday.
- Reuters
- Published: 22:59 September 12, 2008
Beijing: China is counting down to 9.10pm on September 25 for its third manned space flight that will include a space walk, local media reported on Friday.
In October 2003, China became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket, after the former Soviet Union and the United States. It sent two more astronauts on a five-day flight on its Shenzhou VI craft in October 2005.
"We will check the weather conditions to decide whether to launch as planned," Huang Chunping, rocket systems consultant for the Chinese Manned Space Programme, was quoted as saying by the Oriental Morning Post.
"The space walk will take place after the craft has made five orbits," he added. Previous reports in Chinese state media had said the launch would be between September 25 and 30.
Last year, China sent into orbit its first lunar probe and its longer term goals include establishing a space station and landing on the moon.
China's space programme has come a long way since late leader Mao Zedong, founder of Communist China in 1949, lamented that the country could not even launch a potato into space.
More from Other World Stories
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Allies quit ruling coalition in Nepal
Political row could trigger months of street protests and violence
-
Qatar blaze 'started at nursery'
Fire killed 19 including 13 children, at Doha’s main shopping centre
-
Jagan jailed over illegal assets
Andhra Pradesh leader accused of corruption, cheating, conspiracy
