China counts down to Thursday space launch

[Doctor Cynic]

Source: Reuters

JIUQUAN, CHINA — China will send its third manned mission into space on Thursday evening on a mission that is to include its first space walk, the government said on Wednesday.

The Shenzhou VII is to lift off from the Jiuquan space centre in a remote desert area of the northwestern province of Gansu between 9:07 and 10:27 p.m. local time (9:07 a.m. and 10:27 a.m. ET), mission spokesman Wang Zhaoyao told a news conference.

Fuelling of the rocket has already begun, meaning the launch is “irreversible,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

In October, 2003, China became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket, after the former Soviet Union and the United States. It sent two more astronauts on a five-day flight on its Shenzhou VI craft in October, 2005.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.wchinaspace0924/BNStory/Science/home/

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Hope the fuel tank isn't filled with baby milk here...

[kestrel91316]

1. Did they test the fuel for melamine first?

[jeff30997]

2. Lol!

I hope for them it doesn't contain too much lead because the liftoff wound be rough. :D

[krkaufman]

3. It's sorta sad to see this. We've fallen a long way since the 1960s ...

... and have surrendered our superiority to other nations strictly for the benefit of the wealthiest in this country.