Space

DATE=01/02/03

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=RANDLE/CHINA SPACE

NUMBER=3-469

BYLINE=DOUG BERNARD

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

/// Editors: This interview is available in Dalet under SOD/English News Now Interviews in the folder for today or yesterday ///

NEB/HOST INTRO: Beijing has announced that it intends to launch a manned spacecraft sometime this year, perhaps in the last six months of 2003. If successful, China would become only the third nation to send and return a person into space, joining the United States and Russia.

Speaking with News Now's Doug Bernard, VOA's Jim Randle in Beijing says it's no surprise that China has been working toward the goal of manned spaceflight for some time:

MR. RANDLE: What is new here is a relatively specific date. They have been working toward this for years and years, and they have launched four spacecraft already. They are of the kind designed to hold people, but what is special about the Shenzhou 5, which is what they are talking about launching later this year, is that one would actually have people on board. They have a spacecraft that was launched earlier this week, that is up there now, and it is designed to test life support systems and communications and all of the complex things that need to go right in order to get people up and back safely.

MR. BERNARD: If it is not a surprise that they have been working on this, is it perhaps a bit of a surprise about the timetable that they have set out?

MR. RANDLE: Well, I don't know if it is a surprise or not, but they have clearly been working toward it. And they clearly feel that they are or will be ready to go later this year. It's an incredibly complex thing to do, but they have made a big deal out of it. It is a national priority. During one launch, President Jiang Zemin was on television in the control room. And so, clearly he views it as an important milestone for China.

MR. BERNARD: In that sense, in the 1960's, the effort in the United States to put a man into outer space and eventually on the moon became a very high-profile national agenda item. Do you think it has taken on that same sort of role in China?

MR. RANDLE: In the U.S. space program, which I worked for briefly, they kept talking about how there were scientific spin-offs and we're learning a lot and so forth, and that's true, and it's probably true in China as well. But there is no doubt in my mind that the United States reaped a good bit of prestige by doing what is a very difficult thing to do. And undoubtedly China would gain some prestige as well.

HOST TAG:

VOA's Jim Randle in Beijing. He spoke with News Now's Doug Bernard.

VNN/DB/WH