China launched its second manned space mission, sending two astronauts into orbit as it opened a new chapter in its ambitious drive to become a global space power.
Shenzhou VI, based on Soviet Soyuz technology, lifted off on a Long March 2F carrier rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9 am (0100 GMT) for a five-day mission carrying air force pilots Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng.
It entered a fixed orbit 21 minutes later.
Having two crew on board is a departure from October 2003, when Yang Liwei spent 21 hours on a solo odyssey —— a mission that made China only the third country after the United States and former Soviet Union to achieve the feat.
Some 40 seconds after Wednesday's launch the craft disappeared into the clouds, but a camera on board showed Nie waving as the launch centre said lift off and all signals were "normal".
"I feel good," said Fei in his first tranmission from the craft.
Fei, 40, and Nie, 41, were seen off by Premier Wen Jiabao, who was at the launch pad to drum up nationalistic sentiment, saying he believed "the astronauts will accomplish the glorious and sacred mission".
"You will once again show that the Chinese people have the will, confidence and capability to mount scientific peaks ceaselessly," Wen said, adding that the whole country expects "their victorious return from the mission."
Other top leaders including President Hu Jintao and and Vice President Zeng Qinglong watched the event at the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Centre, Chinese mission control.
Snow was falling at the launch site shortly before lift off but stopped at about the time the astronauts entered their craft, Xinhua news agency reported.
The fact that Wednesday's mission carried two astronauts reflects the twin purposes of China's space program, which aims for both scientific gains and kudos at home and abroad.
"Part of it is technical. If you are two people, you can do more complicated and more sophisticated types of work and experimentation," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program at the US Naval War College.
"Part of its also too is prestige. Two people is harder than one person," she said.
Shenzhou VI is expected to circle around the Earth for the next 119 hours, or nearly five days, before landing in the Inner Mongolian grasslands.
The craft is based on the robust and thoroughly tested Soviet design for the Soyuz vessel, and consists of three modules.
These include the orbital module where scientific experiments are carried out; the re-entry capsule where the astronauts will spend most of their time; and the service module, which contains fuel and air, solar panels and other technical gear.
Unlike Yang Liwei two years ago, the two astronauts will leave their capsule for lengthy experiments in the orbital module at the nose of the spacecraft, observers said.
"They'll do quite a lot of medical tests, they'll take blood tests, urine tests, and they will also work out what kind of space food works for them" said Brian Harvey, the Dublin-based author of a book on China's space ambitions.
"Because ultimately what they are planning is a space station…… and to do that they will need to learn how do they survive on longer missions."
The flight of Shenzhou VI will also be a thorough and comprehensive test of China's tracking network, which includes tracking stations as far away as Namibia and four tracking ships placed around the oceans of the world.
In Jiuquan city, several hours' drive away from the satellite launch center, a sense of local pride was clearly visible.
"Wishing a successful launch of Shenzhou VI," said a large red poster in front of one of the city's hotels, while billboards advertised special "Shenzhou Rice Wine."
"We're very happy about all this," said Ma Li, a teenage resident of Jiuquan city. "It's amazing that we Chinese gradually have the know-how to pull this kind of thing off," she said.
中國剛剛進行了第二次載人飛船發(fā)射，將兩名宇航員送入軌道，揭開了其充滿雄心跨入世界空間強國行列的新篇章。
據(jù)法新社10月12日報道，當?shù)貢r間10月12日，基于前蘇聯(lián)聯(lián)盟火箭技術(shù)的中國“神舟”六號飛船，由位于酒泉衛(wèi)星發(fā)射基地的長征2F型火箭送入太空，空軍飛行員出身的費俊龍、聶海勝將在空間軌道停留5天時間。此次飛行計劃還將是中國衛(wèi)星測控網(wǎng)絡(luò)的徹底全面的考驗，這一系統(tǒng)包括遠至納米比亞的測量站和分布在各大洋上的跟蹤船只。
火箭升空約40秒之后逐漸消失在云層之中，21分鐘后飛船進入了固定軌道，發(fā)射中心報告發(fā)射工作及各種信號一切“正常”?；鸺洗钶d的攝像機顯示，聶海勝向發(fā)射中心揮手致意，而費俊龍在其第一次空間通話中說“我感覺良好?！?BR> 在火箭發(fā)射前，中國國家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人為宇航員舉行了高規(guī)格的送行儀式。據(jù)新華社報道，發(fā)射中心之前一直在下雪，但宇航員走進飛船之前雪停了。
“神舟”六號載人飛船的發(fā)射顯示了中國政府實施空間計劃的雙重目的——在進行科學探索的同時贏得國際國內(nèi)聲譽。
“神舟”載人飛船的升空在距離發(fā)射基地幾個小時車程的酒泉市內(nèi)激起了當?shù)孛癖姷淖院栏?。當?shù)匾患绎埖觊T前貼著的一張紅色標語上寫著“祝神舟六號圓滿升空”，甚至還能看見宣傳“神舟米酒”的廣告牌。酒泉市的一個十幾歲的市民馬力(音譯)說：“我們都非常高興，我們中國人逐漸擁有了完成這種壯舉的本領(lǐng)，這太棒了?！?BR>
Shenzhou VI, based on Soviet Soyuz technology, lifted off on a Long March 2F carrier rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9 am (0100 GMT) for a five-day mission carrying air force pilots Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng.
It entered a fixed orbit 21 minutes later.
Having two crew on board is a departure from October 2003, when Yang Liwei spent 21 hours on a solo odyssey —— a mission that made China only the third country after the United States and former Soviet Union to achieve the feat.
Some 40 seconds after Wednesday's launch the craft disappeared into the clouds, but a camera on board showed Nie waving as the launch centre said lift off and all signals were "normal".
"I feel good," said Fei in his first tranmission from the craft.
Fei, 40, and Nie, 41, were seen off by Premier Wen Jiabao, who was at the launch pad to drum up nationalistic sentiment, saying he believed "the astronauts will accomplish the glorious and sacred mission".
"You will once again show that the Chinese people have the will, confidence and capability to mount scientific peaks ceaselessly," Wen said, adding that the whole country expects "their victorious return from the mission."
Other top leaders including President Hu Jintao and and Vice President Zeng Qinglong watched the event at the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Centre, Chinese mission control.
Snow was falling at the launch site shortly before lift off but stopped at about the time the astronauts entered their craft, Xinhua news agency reported.
The fact that Wednesday's mission carried two astronauts reflects the twin purposes of China's space program, which aims for both scientific gains and kudos at home and abroad.
"Part of it is technical. If you are two people, you can do more complicated and more sophisticated types of work and experimentation," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program at the US Naval War College.
"Part of its also too is prestige. Two people is harder than one person," she said.
Shenzhou VI is expected to circle around the Earth for the next 119 hours, or nearly five days, before landing in the Inner Mongolian grasslands.
The craft is based on the robust and thoroughly tested Soviet design for the Soyuz vessel, and consists of three modules.
These include the orbital module where scientific experiments are carried out; the re-entry capsule where the astronauts will spend most of their time; and the service module, which contains fuel and air, solar panels and other technical gear.
Unlike Yang Liwei two years ago, the two astronauts will leave their capsule for lengthy experiments in the orbital module at the nose of the spacecraft, observers said.
"They'll do quite a lot of medical tests, they'll take blood tests, urine tests, and they will also work out what kind of space food works for them" said Brian Harvey, the Dublin-based author of a book on China's space ambitions.
"Because ultimately what they are planning is a space station…… and to do that they will need to learn how do they survive on longer missions."
The flight of Shenzhou VI will also be a thorough and comprehensive test of China's tracking network, which includes tracking stations as far away as Namibia and four tracking ships placed around the oceans of the world.
In Jiuquan city, several hours' drive away from the satellite launch center, a sense of local pride was clearly visible.
"Wishing a successful launch of Shenzhou VI," said a large red poster in front of one of the city's hotels, while billboards advertised special "Shenzhou Rice Wine."
"We're very happy about all this," said Ma Li, a teenage resident of Jiuquan city. "It's amazing that we Chinese gradually have the know-how to pull this kind of thing off," she said.
中國剛剛進行了第二次載人飛船發(fā)射，將兩名宇航員送入軌道，揭開了其充滿雄心跨入世界空間強國行列的新篇章。
據(jù)法新社10月12日報道，當?shù)貢r間10月12日，基于前蘇聯(lián)聯(lián)盟火箭技術(shù)的中國“神舟”六號飛船，由位于酒泉衛(wèi)星發(fā)射基地的長征2F型火箭送入太空，空軍飛行員出身的費俊龍、聶海勝將在空間軌道停留5天時間。此次飛行計劃還將是中國衛(wèi)星測控網(wǎng)絡(luò)的徹底全面的考驗，這一系統(tǒng)包括遠至納米比亞的測量站和分布在各大洋上的跟蹤船只。
火箭升空約40秒之后逐漸消失在云層之中，21分鐘后飛船進入了固定軌道，發(fā)射中心報告發(fā)射工作及各種信號一切“正常”?；鸺洗钶d的攝像機顯示，聶海勝向發(fā)射中心揮手致意，而費俊龍在其第一次空間通話中說“我感覺良好?！?BR> 在火箭發(fā)射前，中國國家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人為宇航員舉行了高規(guī)格的送行儀式。據(jù)新華社報道，發(fā)射中心之前一直在下雪，但宇航員走進飛船之前雪停了。
“神舟”六號載人飛船的發(fā)射顯示了中國政府實施空間計劃的雙重目的——在進行科學探索的同時贏得國際國內(nèi)聲譽。
“神舟”載人飛船的升空在距離發(fā)射基地幾個小時車程的酒泉市內(nèi)激起了當?shù)孛癖姷淖院栏?。當?shù)匾患绎埖觊T前貼著的一張紅色標語上寫著“祝神舟六號圓滿升空”，甚至還能看見宣傳“神舟米酒”的廣告牌。酒泉市的一個十幾歲的市民馬力(音譯)說：“我們都非常高興，我們中國人逐漸擁有了完成這種壯舉的本領(lǐng)，這太棒了?！?BR>