China to launch Shenzhou-6 within 2 years: chief space project designer

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 04, 2003

China to launch Shenzhou-6 within 2 years: chief space project designer

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China will launch Shenzhou-6 carrying more than one astronaut within two years, and the spacecraft will stay in orbit for more than 24 hours, Wang Yongzhi,chief designer of China's space project, said Monday.

Wang told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that Zhenzhou-6 is designed to carry one to three astronauts, and is capable to fly in the outer space for one to seven days.

In order to ensure the success of Shenzhou-6, Chinese scientists are studying the capsule environment for more than one astronaut, such as the useful load, mechanical environment and medical standards, said Wang, who is visiting Hong Kong with China's first astronaut Yang Liwei and other space experts.

Sending a man into orbit is only the first step of China's manned space program. The next step is to develop the spacecraft docking technology and launch a space laboratory in around 2007. And the third step is to build a space station.

"Shenzhou-6 and its carrier rocket system will not have great change compared with Shenzhou-5, since the launching, orbiting andreturning of Shenzhou-5 were very successful," said Wang, adding that but there might be some improvements in some parts of the system.

The success of Shenzhou-5 has proved the reliability of the whole system. Historical experience showed that any great change might add risks to the whole system, said Wang.

However, some items of the space experiments on Shenzhou-6 willbe added and changed compared with those on Shenzhou-5, he said.

"Our current task is to seek improvement after success. Everything has to start from zero after the applause," said the Wang, who and other space experts, especially Yang Liwei, were greeted enthusiastically during their on-going visit in Hong Kong.

Chinese scientists are studying the flying data of Shenzhou-5 to improve the possible weak point of the system.

China's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou-5 was launched on Oct.15 and returned to the Earth after 21-hours flight. The success ofthe first manned space flight secured China a niche in space as the third nation in the world to send a man into outer space, following the former Soviet Union and the United States.

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