Russia To Help China's Manned Space Program

Russia To Help China's Manned Program

Moscow (AFP) October 18, 1999 - Russia is ready to cooperate with China on the country's first manned space mission, the director of the Russian Space Agency Yury Koptev said Monday, cited by the Interfax news agency.

Discussions between the two countries are already underway.

Russia had the capability and was ready to help on projects that did not threaten Russian security, presidential advisor Yevgeny Shaposhnikov said in an interview with the Interfax agency Monday.

Koptev and Russian vice premier Ilya Klebanov first brought up the possibility of helping the Chinese with their space project at the end of August, during a meeting of the joint commission formed to strengthen Sino-Russian ties.

China's first manned space flight is scheduled for the beginning of next year.

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Beijing - Oct 13 (AFP) - China launched Thursday its Earth Resources Satellite, or ZY-1, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "A Chinese rocket, Long March 4-B, blasted off at 11:16 a.m. (0316 GMT) here today at the Taiyuan Launching Center, in north China's Shanxi province," the agency said. The satellite, jointly produced by China and Brazil, is designed to gather photographs for information on agriculture, urbanisation, water quality, and deforestation.