China Set to Launch Shenzhou-2 within Two Weeks

A report from Go Taikonauts, the unofficial China Space News site, states that China is
preparing to launch their second manned rated spacecraft Shenzhou-2 within two weeks for
a seven day mission.

Shenzhou-2 would once again be unmmaned as part of an ongoing test program. At
the International Space Symposium held in Washington, DC in late October,
Zhang Xinxia, president of the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, stated
that China would launch two more unmanned experimental Shenzhou spacecraft
before sending their first astronauts into space. If this is the case then we
should expect at least one more unmanned test launch before the Chinese send a
human crew into space. At their current rate of Shenzhou launches that would be
sometime in 2002.

Related Links

° Go Taikonauts! (aka Dragon in Space)

° Full Text of the “White paper on China’s Space Activities”

° Shenzhou 2 Launch Imminent, Chinese Manned Space Program Targets the Moon, SpaceRef

° China National Space Administration

° 3 November 1999: comments by Luo Ge, Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs China National Space Administration to the International Space Business Assembly (ISBA) held in Washington, D.C.

° Shenzhou, Encyclopedia Astronautica