China sets second manned space launch

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has scheduled the launch of its
second manned spacecraft this week, aiming to join the
exclusive club of just three countries to put a man into space
twice.

The official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday the
Shenzhou VI would set off from a launch center in northwest
China “at a proper time” between October 12 and 15, citing an
official with China’s manned space program.

The spacecraft, with two astronauts aboard, would blast off
from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern
province of Gansu and touch down in the Inner Mongolia region
after the mission, Xinhua said, quoting the official.

In October 2003, China became the third country to put a
man into space, decades after the United States and the former
Soviet Union, when Colonel Yang Liwei orbited Earth 14 times on
the Shenzhou V.