China’s second manned spacecraft returns safely

By Chris Buckley and Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s second manned spacecraft
Shenzhou VI touched down successfully in Inner Mongolia on
Monday after orbiting the Earth for five days, state media
said, as the country stepped up a gush of patriotic fanfare.

The two astronauts reported they had landed safely and were
in good health after the space capsule touched down in the
remote steppes of the northern Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua
news agency said.

They completed 76 orbits of the Earth and traveled millions
of miles since Wednesday morning’s launch of the mission, which
state media has already hailed as a breakthrough demonstrating
China’s emergence as a technological power.

“We’re proud of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, and we’re
even prouder of the motherland’s constantly advancing aerospace
program,” Xinhua news agency said in a commentary ahead of
their return.

Chinese President Hu Jintao had spoken to the astronauts by
telephone over the weekend, just days after presiding over a
meeting of top Communist Party leadership that spelt out the
country’s plans to develop its own technological prowess.

“In times past, we couldn’t manufacture even a car or
ship,” Xinhua said.

“Today, an independent, self-sufficient, constantly
strengthening China has, like a miracle, become one of a
handful of countries able to make the dream of spaceflight a
reality.”

Colonel Yang Liwei became the first Chinese man in space
when he orbited the Earth 14 times aboard the Shenzhou V in
October 2003.

SHOESTRING

China has pulled together its increasingly ambitious space
program on a relative shoestring. Xinhua quoted a Chinese
academic as saying the price for the development of the entire
Shenzhou program was about $2.3 billion, a fraction of NASA’s
$16 billion budget for 2005 alone.

But state media have mainly focused on the economic
benefits the space program should reap for China’s 1.3 billion
people.

“Successful flights like Shenzhou VI build cohesiveness and
reassure the people about their nation’s social and economic
potential,” said Anthony Curtis, a professor at the University
of North Carolina at Pembroke, who follows China’s space
program.

The country has also used its increasingly reliable Long
March rockets to put over 50 satellites into orbit, including
several for foreign international clients.

“China’s repeated successful launches of manned spacecraft
will be extremely likely to help China achieve a fresh
breakthrough in the world commercial aerospace market,” the
China Business newspaper said.

Its next manned mission, slated to include a spacewalk,
will take off in 2007, followed by the establishment of an
orbiting space station, which Curtis said would be feasible
within the next five years.

(Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng)