China's first manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou V, blasted off
from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern
province of Gansu at 9 am this morning. The spacecraft, atop a Long
March II F rocket, was piloted by Yang Liwei, 38, a lieutenant
colonel of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Yang, a member of
the PLA's Astronauts Team, was trained at home.
The Shenzhou mission, if successful, will make China the third
nation to send a man into outer space, following the former Soviet
Union and the United States.
(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2003)
