spacetoday.net: Next Shenzhou mission expected soon

Posted: Thu, Sep 8, 2005, 8:53 AM ET (1253 GMT)
Long March 2F launch of Shenzhou 5 (Xinhua)

Chinese officials said this week that the launch of Shenzhou 6, China's second manned spaceflight, would take place either this month or next. Zhang Qingwei, president of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, told a Shanghai newspaper that the mission would be launched in "September or October", but was not more specific. Previous reports from China had suggested that the flight would take place around mid-October, almost exactly two years after the historic Shenzhou 5 launch. The mission will have a two-man crew that will spend up to a week in orbit, compared to the one-man, one-day flight of Shenzhou 5. Zhang said that several pairs of astronauts had been picked for the mission, but the final crew selection would depend on their performance in "real tests".