With a successful lunar probe launch under their belt, China's space officials said Wednesday that they are planning a three-taikonaut manned orbital mission next year, featuring with the country's first live-broadcast spacewalk.
Even better from a PR perspective, it'll happen just a month or so after the Olympics, which China (as every host) sees as a way to burnish their national image.
According to a piece in the Shanghai Daily, China Academy of Space Technology Pang Zhihao said the country's third manned space mission will launch in October 2008, almost exactly five years after China became the third country to send humans into space. The spacewalk will be broadcast live, Pang told the paper.
The Shanghai paper also reported that the Chang'e lunar probe has successfully entered orbit, and that scientists are currently testing instruments to ensure everything is working well.
Manned space launch set for next October [Shanghai Daily]
(Image: A Chinese rocket in assembly. Credit: China National Space Administration)
