- "Observers said China ... intended to extract the
maximum military value from its achievement, as well as supplanting Russia
as the second space power behind the United States."
-
- "Extremely splendid" was how Yang Liwei, China's
first astronaut, described the view of the Earth hundreds of miles below
yesterday. And his delight was reflected in all those in charge of the
mission finally to join the United States and Russia in sending a human
into space - more than 42 years after the Russians sent Yuri Gagarin aloft,
followed within a month by Alan Shepard from the US.
-
- Observers said China was unconcerned by its late entry
to the space race, and that it intended to extract the maximum military
value from its achievement, as well as supplanting Russia as the second
space power behind the United States.
-
- The military venture has already begun. The Shenzhou
5 capsule (Shenzhou means Divine Vessel) - a heavily modified version of
a three-seat Russian Soyuz design - has left behind an orbital module containing
high-resolution cameras and signals monitoring equipment. Lt-Col Yang,
a 38-year-old fighter pilot, ended the mission after the scheduled 14 orbits,
lasting about 21 hours, returning to Earth in the larger capsule.
-
- The orbital module has been specially designed by the
Chinese, said Peter Bond, space science adviser to the Royal Astronomical
Society, who has been following developments in the Chinese space programme
over the past decade. "It can fly independently for six months, unlike
the Soyuz," he said. "And the Pentagon recently wrote a report
suggesting that the Chinese were developing means of blinding US reconnaissance
satellites. The Chinese, however, always talk about using space for peace."
-
- The rocket took off at about 2am BST from a launch pad
in the Gobi desert. The capsule made an orbital shift in mid-afternoon
which put it on an inclination taking it in a path over the US and Japan.
-
- The US and Russia congratulated China on what the US
space agency Nasa called "an important achievement in the history
of human exploration."
-
- The launch marks a decade-long effort by China's Communist
leaders to boost the nation's image abroad and their standing at home among
their own people.
-
- China Central Television announced the lift-off, and
28 minutes later broadcast the first pictures of the rocket launch. Plans
to show the launch live were cancelled and the belief is that Chinese leaders
were worried about the political impact of an accident. China used to broadcast
satellite launches, but stopped after a rocket blew up following lift-off
in 1995, reportedly killing six people on the ground.
-
- China has had a rocket programme since the 1950s. It
launched a manned space programme in the 1970s but later abandoned it.
The programme was relaunched in 1992 under the code name Project 921. The
budget for the programme is secret, but foreign experts say it totals at
least £700m - a huge commitment for China, where the average person
earns about £350 a year.
-
- Once in space, Lt-Col Yang stopped work only to rest
and eat - diced chicken and rice with dates and nuts - and then took a
three-hour nap.
-
- With his mission nearly half over, he spoke to ground
control and his boss. "Don't worry - I'm going to work hard to accomplish
the task," he told Cao Gangchuan, the Defence Minister .
-
- Later, Lt-Col Yang spoke to his wife and their 8-year-old
son from space, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "I'm feeling
very good in space, and it looks extremely splendid around here,"
he told his wife, Zhang Yumei, who also works for China's space programme.
-
- Lt-Col Yang also unfurled two flags for ground control
to see - those of China and the United Nations, to "highlight China's
persistent stand for peaceful exploration and exploitation of space,"
the government said.
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- © 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=453787
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