China aims to join Russia and the United States as only the third nation to put a human in space.
Beijing sees manned space flight as key to building international prestige and proving the Communist Party's ability to transform China into a modern power. China offers only rare glimpses into its secretive space program, which has strong ties to the military. The first launch of a Shenzhou capsule in November 1999 was not announced until the unmanned craft had safely returned to Earth. The People's Daily quoted Hu Hongfu, deputy general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., as saying several more test flights will be needed to guarantee the capsule's safety before a manned flight would be attempted. China Aerospace Science and Technology, a large government-owned defense contractor, will build the capsules and the powerful Long March rockets used to hurl them into space, the newspaper said.