Bloomberg May 20, 2002
China Planning Manned Mission to Reach Moon by 2010
Beijing, May 20 (Bloomberg) -- China plans to begin human
space flights by 2005 and launch a manned mission to the moon five
years later, the government-run China Daily newspaper cited
scientists as saying.
``China is expected to complete its first exploration of the
moon in 2010 and will establish a base on the moon as we did on
the South Pole and the North Pole,'' Quyang Ziyuan, chief
scientist of China's moon exploration program, told the newspaper.
Twelve astronauts are in training to prepare for the nation's
first manned space mission, China Daily reported. That effort
would aim to create a Chinese space station.
China's announcement of a manned space flight by 2005 can be
interpreted as ``a significant delay,'' said John Pike, director
of Globalsecurity.org, an Alexandria, Virginia-based defense and
aerospace research organization. China had intended to send its
first astronaut into space later this year, he said.
Last month, China's Shenzhou III spacecraft completed the
nation's third unmanned space mission, Reuters cited Chinese state
media as reporting. The Shenzhou III capsule, fitted with dummy
astronauts, landed in Inner Mongolia April 1 after orbiting the
globe 108 times, China Daily said.
China's Long March rocket can easily send humans into low-
Earth orbit, while Chinese industry would need to create a more
powerful launch vehicle and spend much more money to send people
to the moon.
Challenge for China
``It's not outside the realm of possibility that they could
do it, but it would certainly be challenging,'' Pike said. ``China
currently does not have the launch infrastructure. They would
basically have to start building that infrastructure later this
afternoon in order to make a 2010 deadline.''
The push to promote China's space program came during the
country's National Science Week, which ends May 24. If successful,
China would become the third nation after the U.S. and Russia,
which started in the Soviet era, to launch a human into space.
Astronauts from several nations have participated in U.S. and
Russian missions.
``The development and actual use of technologies for manned
space flight have far-reaching significance for our nation in the
political, military, economic and technological fields,'' Agence
France-Presse cited a poster at an exhibition in the capital,
Beijing, as saying.
U.S. government spending on the Apollo program that
ultimately sent 12 U.S. astronauts to the moon peaked in the mid-
1960s at about $36 billion a year in inflation-adjusted 2001
dollars, according to National Aeronautics and Space
Administration data. NASA's current annual budget is $15 billion.
--Mark Hughes in London with reporting by Bill Murray in
Washington, at mhughes@bloomberg.net, through the Washington
newsroom, (202) 624-1820. Editor: H. Langan, DeMarco
Copyright 2002 Bloomberg
