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China launches fourth unmanned space capsule
Sunday, December 29, 2002 Posted: 6:42 PM EST (2342 GMT)


BEIJING, China (AP) -- China's fourth unmanned space capsule blasted into orbit early Monday in a test launch that soon could lead to a manned flight, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The Shenzhou IV spacecraft blasted off at 12:40 a.m. local time from a launch pad in the Gobi desert and entered a preset orbit, Xinhua said. It did not say when the craft would return.

The capsule carries all the equipment for manned flight, and life support and other systems will be tested while it is in orbit, Xinhua said.

Beijing has invested prestige and an undisclosed amount of money in its secretive, military-linked space program. A successful manned launch would make China only the third country, after Russia and the United States, to send a human being into space on its own.

Monday marked the second Shenzhou launch in 10 months -- the shortest period yet between capsule test flights and a possible sign of growing Chinese confidence.

The launch "laid a solid foundation for the country's future task of sending Chinese astronauts to outer space," Xinhua said. The step "could soon lead to its (China's) manned space voyage."

China launched its first unmanned Shenzhou space capsule in November 1999. The capsule -- whose name means "Sacred Vessel" -- is based on Russian Soyuz technology with extensive modifications by Chinese designers.

The communist government does not announce launches in advance and has not publicly set a date for manned flight. But state media have indicated that astronauts could be sent up soon.

A corps of astronauts drawn from China's air force has been training for several years. Xinhua, citing space program officials, said they used the Shenzhou IV for their first training aboard a capsule.

The third Shenzhou flight, launched in March, carried a mannequin in a space suit. After the drum-shaped capsule landed in China's northern grasslands, officials said the 10-day flight showed that humans could survive.

China has sent at least two astronauts to Russia for training, and foreign experts believe they now are training others. Officials of the manned space program, code-named Project 921, refuse to release their identities or details of their training.

Monday's launch was controlled from a base in the Chinese city of Xi'an and four tracking ships anchored in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, Xinhua said. China's No. 3 leader -- Li Peng, chairman of the national legislature -- and Vice Premier Wu Bangguo were among those watching the launch in Jiuquan, Xinhua said.

All Shenzhou flights have followed the Russian tradition of returning to earth on land.

In preparation for manned flight, emergency landing zones at sea and on land have been set up and crews have performed practice rescues.


下图说明：
The Shenzhou III takes off from Jiuquan Space Launch Center earlier this year.