China's fledgling space programme launched an unmanned test flight early Wednesday, the second in a series expected to lead to a first manned space voyage as early as next year. The state Xinhua news agency announced that Shenzhou II blasted off from Jiuquan in northwest China with a number of unidentified animals, and entered a preset orbit. Chinese President Jiang Zemin sent a congratulatory message to the scientists, workers and People's Liberation Army servicemen involved in the manufacture and launch of the spacecraft, Xinhua said. Xinhua said Shenzhou II was composed of an orbital module, returning module and booster rockets, almost identical to how a manned spececraft would be constructed.
Western sources expect re-entry over Inner Mongolia.
During the flight, experiments on space life sciences, space materials, astronomy and physics will be conducted, Xinhua said. The flight over the Pacific would be closely monitored by Yuanwang, a tracking vessel. In November, China spelled out plans to be a major player in space with a policy document shedding light on its ambitious programme to wire the world with satellites and put a man on the moon. China is also known to be planning to build an indigenous space station as early as 2015. A manned space flight could happen as early as next year, following at least three successful unmanned test flights, and would make China only the third country after Russia and the United States to put a man into space.