中国发射载人航天飞船

China Launches Flight Of Manned Spacecraft

China launched its first manned spacecraft in what was expected to be a brief orbital mission with big repercussions for the global space industry.

The spacecraft, the Shenzhou V, rocketed into space from the Jiuquan Space Launching Center deep in the Gobi Desert Wednesday morning and entered its planned orbit, state media reported. On board, the reports said, was a single astronaut, a 38-year-old veteran military pilot, Yang Liwei.

"I feel good," Lt. Col. Yang radioed back from space after a half-hour in flight, according to state media. He said his blood pressure and other vital signs were "normal." Li Jinai, chief commander of the country's manned space program, was quoted as saying the spacecraft was operating normally in orbit.

The astronaut's journey into space was expected to be short, with the re-entry module likely parachuting on to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia later in the day during daylight hours. The state's Xinhua News Agency last week said the craft would orbit Earth 14 times. A main reason for the brief duration of the mission, observers of the Chinese space program said, is that China wants to ensure no glitches occur on a first manned voyage that is drawing national and international attention. In one of the four previous unmanned test flights, ground crews had trouble locating the craft after it touched down during a blizzard.

A successful flight would make China the third nation, after the U.S. and Russia, with a domestic space program capable of manned space travel. The anticipated achievement has been touted for months by state media and Chinese leadership, which are under criticism at home over corruption, unemployment and other domestic ills. State media, in reporting the launch, called it "a historic breakthrough."

Yet the 11-year-old, military-run manned program is more than an expensive status symbol. Though Wednesday's Shenzhou flight seems to be repeating a feat the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union achieved four decades ago, space-industry experts said the Chinese program has made technological leaps that put it on course to become a competitor -- or partner -- in the U.S.-dominated space exploration. "They're not in a 40-year tail chase with Russia and U.S.," said James Oberg, a consultant who worked for 22 years at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "They will rapidly move abreast of Russian capabilities, and they will be full members of the very elite space club."

One looming question is how the U.S. will deal with China's emerging space capabilities. The Shenzhou flight comes as the U.S. space-shuttle fleet remains grounded following the disintegration of the Columbia in February. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is temporarily dependent on Russia to resupply the International Space Station; a launch of a Soyuz space capsule is scheduled for Saturday to ferry a replacement crew to the station. So far, Western and Chinese analysts said, the Bush administration has locked China out of the International Space Station, apparently for national-security concerns. But if the Shenzhou program proves successful, the analysts said a previous stated reason for excluding China -- that it couldn't provide money or technology -- seems outdated, making an invitation to participate possible.
中国发射载人航天飞船


中国周三发射了第一艘载人飞船，将一位宇航员送入轨道，成为在前苏联和美国成功发射载人飞船40年后的第三个实现载人航天飞行的国家。

飞船发射轨迹在中国西北部明亮蔚蓝的天空中清晰可见。国有媒体报导飞船于当地时间9点10分进入了轨道，并称宇航员是38岁的杨利伟。

这标志著中国载人飞船项目在经过10年的努力后终于到达了成就的顶峰。对希望树立国际形象的中国共产党来说这也是一个弘扬爱国主义精神的时刻。

中国载人飞船10月升空

China Plans to Enter Exclusive Space Club Via Manned Launch

Boldly going where no Chinese has gone before, Beijing is expected to put its first man into space in October, joining a club that now consists of just the U.S. and Russia.

Forty-two years after Yuri Gagarin's flight stunned the world, the prospect of the first yuhangyuan, or Chinese astronaut, is set to make waves in the space programs of other countries. That's not because it's threatening -- experts say there is little or no military application in a manned flight -- but because it's a benchmark of how far China's space program has come, and how far it intends to go.

"This is purely political, it's a demonstration that they've arrived," says David Baker, editor of Jane's Space Directory in London. "China is taking a megaphone to the world and shouting: 'We are capable, take us very seriously."'

Details are scarce -- even the astronauts' names haven't been revealed. One or possibly two will take off in a capsule called Shenzhou V (Divine Vessel) from Jiuquan in Gansu province in the northwest in October, according to the Beijing Morning Post on Sept. 18. The capsule should land on the steppes of Inner Mongolia at least one day later.

The flight would crown a decade of progress in civilian applications of space technology and China's ability to launch satellites -- both for itself and for other countries. "Clearly there is a huge economic component to it in terms of the ability to forecast weather, the ability to provide communications to remote parts of China and other areas," says Dean Cheng, an Asia analyst at the CNA Corp., an Alexandria, Virginia, think tank that is close to the U.S. military.

China's leap into space is dominated by the military and will probably produce much dual-use technology, which is making some countries nervous. One consequence is that Japan is merging its three existing space entities into a consolidated body modeled on the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Japan is seriously worried about China's long-term intentions," says Mr. Baker.

China's manned space debut could also provide a jolt to the U.S. space program itself, in the doldrums since February's Columbia space-shuttle disaster. That grounded the other shuttles until at least the middle of 2004. "Meanwhile, Russia is supplying the space station and China launches its manned space flight," says Mr. Baker. "This could be the very thing that stiffens the resolve to go for more ambitious goals in the American space program."

Since the early 1990s China has dedicated itself to building a program with long-term reach. "Shenzhou is just the first step of a much larger plan," says Chen Lan, a Shanghai-based independent analyst. In January, China launched its second Zi Yuan photo-reconnaissance satellite -- based on a satellite jointly developed with Brazil to map natural resources. This month it signed an initial agreement paving the way for participation in the Galileo satellite-based navigation system, the European alternative to the U.S.-run Global Positioning System.

Chinese long-term ambitions in space are often unclear, but a State Council white paper published in 2000 includes plans for independent Chinese satellite broadcasting and navigation systems, space exploration and the marketing of new applications discovered through the space program. Those are impressive technological goals -- especially for a country where even medium-level cars are still made with foreign assistance and high-tech fighter jets are imported from Russia because China lacks the skills to make them.
中国载人飞船10月升空

今年10月，中国将成为继俄罗斯和美国之后第三个发射载人飞船翱翔太空的国家。太空是中国人过去从未涉足的领域，但他们毫不畏惧。

42年前，第一个太空人加加林(Yuri Gagarin)的首航震惊世界。42年后，中国宇航员将搭载飞船进入太空，这也必将对其他国家的太空项目产生冲击。并不是说中国载人航行太空对其他国家具有威胁（专家表示，载人飞船几乎没有或者说根本没有军事用途），而是由于这是一个基准点，揭示了中国太空技术的进展程度以及长远目标。

《简式航天指南》(Jane's Space Directory)驻伦敦的编辑贝克(David Baker)称，中国此次发射载人飞船纯粹是一个政治事件，是为了显示中国在航天技术方面的实力，这就好像中国举著一个大喇叭，向全世界呐喊：…我们有实力，不要轻视我们！”

但中国空间计划的细节却少为人所知，甚至包括宇航员姓甚名谁都没有透露。据9月18日的《北京晨报》报导，今年10月，将有1或2名宇航员乘神舟五号飞船从中国西北甘肃省酒泉基地起飞。飞船将在至少1天后在内蒙古的大草原上著陆。

此次飞行将向中国和全世界展示10年以来中国民用航天技术应用水平和卫星发射水平。与美国军方关系密切的CNA公司亚洲分析师Dean Cheng认为，神舟五号能够预测天气，还能够为中国偏远地区和其他地方提供通信服务，从这个角度来看，它显然具有巨大的经济效用。

这一航天项目的军事用途很难量化。但是，中国的太空计划由军队控制，可能将开发大量双重用途的技术。

这一点让一些国家感到不安，由此产生的一个后果就是，日本以美国国家航空及太空总署(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)为模型，对现有的3个航天机构合并为一个整体。贝克称，日本非常担心中国空间研发的长远目的。

中国载人飞船首次升空还将促进美国的航天项目。自今年2月哥伦比亚航天飞机失事以来，美国航天项目一直进展缓慢。美国可能至少要到2004年年中之后才会再度发射飞船。贝克称，但与此同时，俄罗斯和中国却都没有放慢步伐，前者正在建设空间站，而后者也将发射载人飞船。

从上个世纪90年代初开始，中国便致力于发展目标远大的空间计划。上海的独立分析师陈兰(音译：Chen Lan)认为，神舟只是宏伟计划的第一步。

计划包括中国与其他国家合作发展卫星技术。今年1月，中国发射了以和巴西共同开发的卫星为基础的第二颗照片采集资源卫星，以测量中国的自然资源。

意义更加重大的可能是9月18日在北京签署的一份初步协议，这份协议为中国参加伽利略(Galileo)卫星导航系统铺平了道路。伽利略系统是美国控制的全球定位系统(GPS)在欧洲的替代品。

人们通常都不清楚中国太空发展的长期目标，但中国国务院(State Council)于2000年发表的白皮书中提到，中国计划开发独立的卫星广播和导航系统、进行空间探索以及推广太空发现的新用途等。

这都是令人瞩目的科技目标，特别是对于这样一个连中档轿车都要靠外国帮助制造、高科技喷气式战斗机必须从俄罗斯进口的国家。

不过专家认为，空间项目有高度的独立性。初期阶段，中国大量借鉴了俄罗斯的技术和培训，但今天，中国却主要依靠自行开发或大幅修改的设备，例如以俄罗斯Soyuz火箭为原型的神舟飞船。

但是，神舟五号将由中国自行开发的长征二号F火箭和助推火箭送上太空，并使用独立的推进和控制系统，这样，在宇航员返回地球之后，3个太空舱中的1个将留在轨道上。贝克指出，这不是从别人那儿剽窃来的，而是中国人自主开发的。