China sets date for next manned space mission

updated 12:52 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2005

SHANGHAI, China - China announced plans Sunday to launch its second manned space mission on Oct. 13 and return five days later.

The launch of Shenzhou 6 is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base, in the Gobi desert in northern China, the state-run China News Service reported on Sunday.

The military-backed space program is a major prestige project for the communist government. China hopes to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010 and operate a space station.

China’s first manned space flight in October 2003 made it the third country able to launch a human into space on its own, after Russia and the United States.

Col. Yang Liwei, a former fighter pilot, orbited the Earth for 21 1/2 hours aboard the Shenzhou 5 capsule before landing in China’s northern grasslands.

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Hubble reveals billowing clouds of cosmic dust Cosmic Log: Have a Hubble holiday Space station trio lands safely   Butterflies survive developing in space Meteorite study revives life-on-Mars debate Black hole may have created a galaxy Baby brown dwarf twins seen by astronomers New Zealand company launches rocket to space   Month in space: Powerful pictures Astronauts land with families on their minds Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: