|
China plans unmanned moon mission by 2007
BEIJING - China plans to launch its first unmanned lunar flight by 2007 in a three-phase mission that aims to bring back rock samples, state media said on Tuesday. In the second stage, a lunar vehicle would land on the moon by 2012 and by 2017 the rock samples could be collected, the report said quoting aerospace officials. âScientists hope to get to know the moonâs environment and analyse the composition of lunar rocks,â the China Daily quoted Luan Enjie, chief commander of Chinaâs lunar exploration programme, as saying.China has developed an ambitious space programme since its first Long March rocket blasted off in 1970. It became the third country to successfully send a man into space in October 2003 and regularly sends up research satellites. Chinaâs lunar orbiter weighed more than two tonnes and was expected to fly for a year, collecting information for a mapping of the moonâs surface and studying its mineral content, Luan said. He did not say when China might be sending an astronaut to the moon, but said the 2017 mission would provide data for a manned expedition.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-08-16 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=126873 |