China plans mission to moon

BEIJING: China will send a manned craft into space before 2005 and preparations for the first mission to the moon are going on smoothly, a senior space official has said. The director of the state aerospace bureau, Luan Enjie, said his office has just launched a project in cooperation with its European counterpart to make breakthroughs in exploring the moon in the next decade. Several unmanned spaceship projections will be needed prior to the launch, a senior scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr. Liang Sili, said. China launched and recovered its second unmanned spacecraft, the Shenzhou II, earlier this year following its maiden space flight in late 1999. According to a white paper on China's space programme, the country will launch moon probes from Long March carrier rockets on the basis of applied technology development. To date, China has successfully developed and launched 48 satellites, with a success rate of 90 per cent.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Milosevic charged with genocide
Next     : Award for director