China near its first man in space

Legend has it that toward the end of the 15th century, a Chinese named Wan Hu attached 30 rockets to a kite-like monoplane and took off neve...

Legend has it that toward the end of the 15th century, a Chinese named Wan Hu attached 30 rockets to a kite-like monoplane and took off never to come back. Now, five centuries later, China is on the verge of launching an astronaut or two, according to hints dropped in the Chinese press and by Chinese diplomats abroad. This would make it only the third nation to put a man into space, after Russia and the US.

Chinese journalists are feverishly speculating that the first mission may be launched on the day commemorating 54 years of Communist rule. Others, also claiming inside knowledge, confidently predict a launch date of October 17.

‘‘This is about 90 pc political and 10 pc technical,’’ said David Baker, the editor of Jane’s Space Directory, the British space and weapons analytical group.

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Unlike the American manned space programme that was minutely covered by the media from its outset, the Chinese programme remains largely secret, with only occasional titbits doled out to the official press. Hong Kong newspapers said the leading candidate to go into space is a pilot named Chen Long, who was trained by Chinese air force pilots at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut centre in Russia.

Dubbed the ‘‘Shenzhou’’, or ‘‘Divine Boat’’ or ‘‘Divine Vessel’’ by the government, the tea-cup-shaped craft resembles the Russian Soyuz capsules.

Some space analysts even suggest the Shenzhou is largely of Chinese design and technologically superior to the Soyuz. Media reports suggest it has cost taxpayers 19 billion yuan, or $2.3 billion to date — about half what NASA spends annually on its shuttle programme. (LAT-WP)

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