BEIJING, China -- China plans to become the third nation to put people in space later this year, following the successful launch of an unmanned spacecraft earlier this week.

Official Chinese media reported Thursday that a manned flight of Shenzhou V is scheduled for the second half of 2003, with preparations for that flight having now entered the assembly and testing phase.

Yuan Jie, director of the Shanghai Aerospace Bureau, was reported by the China News Service as saying the flight of Shenzhou IV on Monday had laid a solid foundation for the coming manned space mission.

"Shenzhou IV represents the country's most sophisticated and fullest preparation so far to realize the nation's long-cherished dream of manned space flight," Yuan is reported saying.

Sources from the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center said all experiments carried on Shenzhou IV had been running well, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Shenzhou IV, which boasts a complete system needed for human space flight, will orbit for a few days before landing, state media have said.

China's first astronauts will be experienced jet fighter pilots drawn from the ranks of the nation's air force. They have been training for several years for the mission.

According to The Associated Press, China has sent at least two astronauts to Russia for training, and more may now be training there. The Shenzhou series of spacecraft is based on the Russian Soyuz design.

The rest of the story here: [url]www.europe.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/01/china.space[/url]

I wonder what they are trying to accomplish.  Maybe a new place to ship unwanted babies.

Put a man in space?  I wonder if they're going to bother to bring him back.z

Dead or alive??

[shock] Knowing the way they drive, he'll probably crash into an asteroid....

Also [url=http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=162471&w=myTopicPop]here[/url].

Centuries of fireworks technology at work!

Honestly the capsule they intend to use looks sneakingly like the Russian Soyuz that you see parked at the International Space Station. Looks like they just crossed out the hammer and sickle and put their crappy flag on it. It should be noted that Chinese Scientists claim there are "significant" differences between their skuzzy vu and a Soyuz. Yeah sure, and I'm a chinese jet pilot.

Next it will be nukes in space...