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Countdown begins for China space mission

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Oct. 14. China began the countdown for the launch of its first manned spacecraft, by Wednesday at the earliest and Friday at the latest.

Beijing said the best rocket, Long March CZ-2 F, would be used in the mission that had attracted enormous international attention.

The Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Hu Jintao, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Jiang Zemin, besides several other top leaders are expected to witness the anticipated dawn of a new era at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gansu province.

Both the designated spaceship, Shenzhou V (Divine Vessel V) and the rocket would bear China's scientific signature, being indigenously developed. The sole astronaut, expected to place China in the exclusive club of Russia and the U.S. as highly skilled space-faring nations, will orbit the earth 14 times in about 23 hours, according to indications.

Huang Chunping, associated with the mission, was quoted as saying on Tuesday that "the rocket that will launch Shenzhou V spaceship is the best of all''.

According to him, this type of rocket, which had so far propelled four unmanned spacecraft into pre-set orbits in space, has been perfected for the manned spaceflight.

The rocket, which fulfilled the advanced international standards as regards the relevant technical indices, "is of superior quality and stood most stringent tests'', Mr. Huang said. Being the tallest and heaviest rocket that China had developed so far, Long March CZ-2 F is 58.3 metres long and can carry a payload of 479.8 tonnes.

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