Beijing

China has launched its first unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou, or “God Ship”. The flight has made China the third country to launch a craft capable of carrying a person into space, and has been hailed as a milestone towards realizing that dream.

The vehicle was launched with the latest model of the Long March rocket, from the Jiuquan satellite-launching centre in the northwestern province of Gansu, at 6:30 a.m. local time on Saturday (20 November). The dome-shaped craft was in space for 21 hours and orbited the Earth 14 times before touching down in Inner Mongolia.

During the mission, experiments were conducted on remote sensing from space, environmental monitoring, space materials, life science, astronomy and physics. A new land- and sea-based monitoring and control network was put into use for the first time for the launch.

China's secret Manned Spaceflight Programme began in 1992. The first manned flight was originally planned to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in October — no reasons were given for the delay.

The spacecraft and the carrier rocket were developed mainly by the China Space Science and Technology Group. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of the Information Industry were also involved.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the launch would “strengthen the nation's comprehensive national strength, promote the development of science and technology, enhance national prestige and boost the nation's sense of pride and cohesiveness”.

Officials say that a number of unmanned test flights are needed before an astronaut can be sent into space, but give no timetable. The Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po said a manned flight was “just around the corner”, however.

Major Chinese newspapers did not appear until midday on Sunday, apparently waiting for the return of the spacecraft. Reports about the launch covered the front pages of almost all major newspapers.

Russia is reported to have helped China with the development programme. The spacecraft weighed about 8.4 tonnes and was capable of accommodating up to four astronauts. It was said to be based on the Russian Soyuz, but with two pairs of solar panels to generate power, and a cylindrical forward module rather than a spherical one.

Moscow and Beijing signed an agree-ment to train Chinese cosmonauts in Russia after Russian president Boris Yeltsin visited China in 1996.

Two Chinese cosmonauts received training that year at the Star City Space Centre near Moscow in the full programme needed for a manned flight, as well as intensive courses in physics and Russian. The future astronauts are said to have been picked from among China's best fighter pilots.

China launched its first rocket in 1959. The country's first satellite, Dongfanghong, went into orbit in 1970.