BEIJING: China began on Tuesday its longest manned space mission with the launch of the Shenzhou-10 rocket, state television showed, as the country steps up an ambitious exploration programme symbolising its growing power. The rocket ascended above the Jiuquan space centre in the Gobi Desert trailing a vast column of flame.
The three astronauts on board—who include Wang Yaping, 33, China's second woman in space—saluted cameras mounted inside their capsule and moments later the boosters detached from the rocket. The crew are due to spend 15 days in orbit.
President Xi Jinping, fresh from a summit with US President Barack Obama, was on hand to watch the departure of the Shenzhou-10—the name means “Divine Vessel”—exactly on time at 0938 GMT.
Beijing sees the multi-billion-dollar space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
The programme is heavily promoted to the domestic audience, and state broadcaster CCTV began continuous coverage several hours before the launch.
Xi told the trio he had come to see them off on behalf of the Communist Party, the government, the military and “all the nationalities and people of the entire nation”.
“You make all the Chinese people feel proud. Your mission is both glorious and sacred”, he added.
Mission commander Nie Haisheng responded: “We will certainly obey orders, comply with commands, be steady and calm, work with utmost care and perfectly complete the Shenzhou-10 mission.” The three crew, in white space suits, emerged from a building and greeted crowds of well-wishers waving flags and artificial flowers, some in traditional costumes, before boarding a bus for transfer to the launch pad.
State-run newspapers gave the mission blanket coverage, with stories and pictures of the astronauts on almost every front page. Wang will teach lessons to schoolchildren via video link during the mission, officials said.
“We are all students in facing the vast universe. We are looking forward to joining our young friends to learn and explore the mystical and beautiful universe,” she told a press conference on Monday.—AFP
