China Plans Space Flights, Moon Landing
John Blanco-Losada (jbl@clark.net)
Fri, 1 Nov 96 12:39:41 -0500
BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuter) - China hopes for a breakthrough in
manned spaceflights early next century and hopes to land a
spacecraft on the moon in the 21st century, the Xinhua news
agency said on Thursday.
The ambitious space programme was aimed at giving China a
competitive edge in international space development, Xinhua
said, quoting senior officials.
Manned spaceflights are being given top priority in the
space programme, which includes building a heavy solar satellite
in partnership with Germany as well as building a new generation
of lightweight spacecraft to 'bus' satellites into orbit, Xinhua
said.
``The country is expected to make a breakthrough in manned
space technology at the beginning of the next century,'' Xinhua
said, quoting Wang Liheng, vice-administrator of the China
National Space Administration.
China was working on technologies badly needed for moon
exploration to provide cheap transport systems for lunar-landing
spacecraft so as to explore the moon and to develop lunar
resources, it said.
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