bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Verna Yu

Although there have only been four unmanned practice launches, Qi Faren is bullish about next week's flight

The chief designer of the Shenzhou V spacecraft has expressed confidence  that next week's launch will  be a success, even though  the mainland has conducted only four unmanned tests.

Qi Faren was yesterday quoted by the Shanghai-based Liberation Daily as saying limited funding had prevented the   carrying out of more  unmanned  flights to prepare for next week's  mission.

'Although we have only undertaken a few tests due to the funding limitations ... [we] have made substantial improvement to the Shenzhou spacecraft since [the launch of] Shenzhou I,' he said.

'Through the many reviews and examinations by our experts and conclusions drawn from our experiments, I am confident our manned space flight will be a success.'

It is widely expected China will realise its dream of being the third country to put a man in space next Wednesday. That is the day tipped for the liftoff of  the Shenzhou V  from the Jiuquan launch site in Inner Mongolia.

The central government maintained yesterday that the country had no desire to compete with other countries and said its development in space technology was 'solely for peaceful purposes'.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said: 'China has never and will never participate in any kind of arms race in space.

'China always stands by the principle of demilitarisation in space and believes this accords with the interests of all countries.'

The Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper yesterday reported that the Shenzhou V would  orbit the globe 14 times in about 21 hours before returning to Earth. Earlier media reports had said the  flight would last only 90 minutes.

The Hong Kong-based newspaper said Shenzhou V would  lift off at 9am, in a departure  from the previous practice of launching spacecraft at night. This was because a daytime launch offered   better visibility and was safer.

However, it said weather conditions and other factors meant the schedule could change right up to the last minute.

The Liberation Daily said the spacecraft would  be launched by a Long March 2F rocket. It would put the Shenzhou V into  an elliptical orbit  between  200km and 350km  above the Earth's surface. After orbiting the planet  a few times, the  craft would go into a  circular orbit 350km up, it said.

Quoting 'reliable sources', the paper said the three candidates to become China's first astronauts were all experienced fighter pilots, each about 1.7 metres tall and weighing about 65kg. All had had six years'  training, it said.

Although the candidates had been ranked, a final decision on who goes into orbit would be taken on the day of the launch, based on  the performance and fitness of the astronauts at that time.

Shenzhou V's orbital module, which has its own power and control systems, will  remain  in space for six months after the manned mission for the purposes of  scientific research, Mr Qi was quoted as saying.

He  said the mainland had begun  contemplating a manned space mission soon after the United States and Russia sent their astronauts to space in the 1960s, but was held back by its lack of resources. China instead concentrated on launching  satellites, and efforts towards a  manned space mission did not start again until 1986, when the central government decided to launch  Project 863.

The project, calling  for a 'new technological revolution', was put to Deng Xiaoping by   China's four top scientists - Wang Daheng, Chen Fangyun, Wang Gancheng and Yang Jiachi - in March 1986.

Although the Shenzhou capsule is based on Russia's Soyuz craft,  Mr Qi said everything sent into space was made on the mainland.



Spacecraft's designer confident of success