China to attempt manned space flight

The Chinese government confirmed today that it would attempt its first manned space launch next week, saying the mission would begin between Wednesday and Friday “at a proper time.”

The spacecraft, the Shenzhou 5, will orbit the Earth 14 times before landing at a “pre-selected area,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.

A successful launch would make China the third country in the world to put a human being into space.

The former Soviet Union put Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961 and the United States sent Alan Shepard up less than a month later.

“Now all preparatory work for the launch is progressing smoothly,” Xinhua quoted an unnamed space-program official as saying.

The government has not announced the identity of the space traveller, and the Xinhua dispatches did not specify how many astronauts, or “taikonauts,” the craft would contain.

All would-be taikonauts – a nickname based on the Chinese word for “space” - have passed “a comprehensive drill,” Xinhua said.