China plans to send two astronauts into space for only its second manned space mission, a space engineer has revealed.
Qi Faren, the chief designer behind China's Shenzhou class of spacecraft, told the government-run news agency Xinhua that two Chinese astronauts, or "taikonauts", would be aboard the sixth Shenzhou to blast off. Officials have said the second manned spaceflight is due to take place in October 2005 and will last between five and seven days.
In October 2003, China became only the third nation to place a human in space, after the former Soviet Union and the US. The achievement is a source of great national pride for China and the government has revealed even more dramatic ambitions. These include constructing a space station and sending unmanned spacecraft to the Moon.
China's historic first manned flight, in October 2003, saw a lone astronaut, Yang Liwei, orbit the Earth 14 times before touching down on the grassy plains of Inner Mongolia.
More: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994987
Qi Faren, the chief designer behind China's Shenzhou class of spacecraft, told the government-run news agency Xinhua that two Chinese astronauts, or "taikonauts", would be aboard the sixth Shenzhou to blast off. Officials have said the second manned spaceflight is due to take place in October 2005 and will last between five and seven days.
In October 2003, China became only the third nation to place a human in space, after the former Soviet Union and the US. The achievement is a source of great national pride for China and the government has revealed even more dramatic ambitions. These include constructing a space station and sending unmanned spacecraft to the Moon.
China's historic first manned flight, in October 2003, saw a lone astronaut, Yang Liwei, orbit the Earth 14 times before touching down on the grassy plains of Inner Mongolia.
More: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994987
