Chinese cosmonauts to train in Russia

MOSCOW (AFP) Feb 10, 2004
Chinese cosmonauts will soon begin training at Russia's Star City centre near Moscow in preparation for the second space flight by a Chinese, due in the second half of next year, the centre's director Vassily Tsibliev said Tuesday.

China's first man in space, Yang Liwei, orbitted the earth 14 times during a 21-hour period aboard a Shenzhou Five spacecraft launched from Inner Mongolia on October 15.

A spokesman for the Chinese space programme, Huang Chunping, said last month that the second flight would probably carry more than one person and last more than 24 hours.

China plans to build a permanent space station with a research laboratory and intends to launch a lunar probe in 2007.

SPACE.WIRE