China Sets Manned Spaceflight Goal

[dArKeR]

China is busy making "full preparations" for a manned spaceflight later this year and would consider a successful mission a milestone in the country's history, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Kong Quan, a ministry spokesman, insisted he had no concrete information about when the mission to send a Chinese astronaut — known as a "taikonaut," after the Mandarin word for space — into orbit would begin. China has indicated it would send a man into space by the end of 2003.

But Kong said the country was proceeding apace.

"We hope we can realize that goal, sending a man into space, as soon as possible," he said, smiling, at a regular briefing. "I can't provide any information. I wish I could."

Kong added: "We are trying to make full preparations to realize our goal."

A successful mission would make China the third country — after the Soviet Union and the United States — to launch a manned spacecraft.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/23/tech/main574696.shtml

Mark my words: 'Wait until you see what China accomplishes in the next 10-20 years. I believe the world has seen nothing like it. It's going to blow the doors off of all other countries in the world.'