Second Chinese manned spacecraft launched successfully

Second Chinese manned spacecraft launched successfully
BEIJING - China continued to make rapid strides in space technology as two Chinese astronauts blasted off into space in what is only the second manned flight in the country's space annals.
Fei Junlong, 40, and Nie Haisheng, 41, both of who are colonels in the People's Liberation Army were chosen out of 14 available and ready to fly astronauts.

The Shenzhou 6 spacecraft took off on Tuesday from a desert in northwestern China's Gansu province. "There is nothing to worry about. We will accomplish the mission resolutely. See you in Beijing," the astronauts said on the state run television shortly before they blasted off. China's ruling Communist Party was understandably elated at the successful launch of the manned mission. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao wished the astronauts a successful journey to accomplish "the glorious and sacred mission," China's Xinhua News Agency said.

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"You will once again show that the Chinese people have the will, confidence and capability to mount scientific peaks ceaselessly," Wen was quoted as saying. "China's space flight scientific experiments stem completely from the objective of peace, and are also a contribution to mankind's scientific study and the cause of peace."

In a radical departure from the secrecy surrounding its previous space missions, Chinese television actually showed the event live. The pair of astronauts inside the Shenzhou capsule waved to the cameras as it panned on the computer screens inside the capsule. President Hu Jintao and Vice President Zeng Qinghong watched the lift-off on television in Beijing.

The Shenzhou or “Divine Vessel is actually a modern version of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, that has been developed in keeping with the requirements of China's space program. China joins Russia and the United States as the only three countries to send men into space. Analysts' say that China's strides in this segment are bound to raise its prestige globally as well as locally, "It enhances the psychological value of every weapons system that China possesses or intends to sell overseas. And, it enhances every statement or promise and - I'm afraid to say - every threat that Chinese diplomats make overseas," said James Oberg, a retired U.S. space engineer.

The mission is expected to last for five days.