SPACE WIRE
Russia, Asia congratulate China on achievement of manned space flight
MOSCOW (AFP) Oct 15, 2003
Russia, which sent the first man into space more than 40 years ago, led congratulations after China accomplished the same feat Wednesday and joined the elite space club alongside itself and the United States.

"We welcome this development and congratulate China for joining the club of space powers that have their own manned space programs," ITAR-TASS quoted the first deputy of the Russian space agency Nikolai Moiseyev as saying.

"All of the world's countries use the benefit of space programs in one form or another, but only three have manned space programs of their own -- Russia, the United States and China."

China on Wednesday launched an astronaut into space aboard the Shenzhou V craft in an historic manned space mission.

With reaction expected later in the day from Washington, scientists in India, China's regional rival and apparently piqued by China's manned space mission, recently announced plans for an unmanned voyage to the moon in 2008.

But on Wednesday, they were full of praise for Beijing. "It is absolutely fantastic. China needs to be congratulated as it has become the third nation to send a man to space," said U.R. Rao, former chief of India's premier space agency the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

But the reaction was not without a hint of envy. "It is not that we lack the technological capability. If the government changes its view (on space programs) then a manned mission is very much possible. India has the scientific capability," Rao told AFP.

Pakistan, a long-term ally of the communist country, was more fulsome in its praise. "This is no doubt a very important milestone in the progress and advancement made by China in space technology," General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, wrote to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. The launch "brings pride to China as to the Asian continent," he said.

In Hong Kong, China's success brought out a burst of nationalistic pride.

"I'm proud of being Chinese," said retired businessman Cheung Man-hung, who watched images of the launch of the Shenzhou V rocket on a giant television screen outside a shopping mall in the city.

"I'm happy to have lived to see the day the first Chinese astronaut made it into orbit," he said.

In Tokyo, the Japanese government congratulated China. "We sincerely congratulate (China on) its success. We hope for the safe performance (of the mission) to ensure its safe return," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda.

Fukuda said, however, that Japan was not lagging China in its space efforts.

"I don't think we are necessarily behind. There are many things that can be achieved with unmanned missions. Japan has its way of doing things," Fukuda said.

Japan's space programme has focused on unmanned rocket launches as the nation tries to enter the commercial satellite launch market and put up its own spy satellites to monitor potentially threatening activity in North Korea.

In Seoul, South Korean officials were also hoping China's successful launch would give a boost to the country's own space program. "It's something for Asia. I hope this will encourage South Koreans to pay more attention to their own country's fledgling space program," said science and technology ministry spokesman Lee Sang-Mok.

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