China’s third unmanned space craft returned successfully to earth Monday after a week-long mission which marked another step in Beijing’s plan to put an astronaut into orbit, state media said.
The Shenzhou III (Divine Vessel III) space capsule returned to earth in central Inner Mongolia at 4:51 pm (08:51 GMT), the Xinhua news agency said.
The mission, the third test flight of China’s fledgling space program, took off from the Jiuquan launch center in northern Gansu province late on March 25, making it the longest flight in the series.
The return of the re-entry module came after the spacecraft had orbited the earth 108 times. An orbiting section was expected to continue to circle the earth for “the coming months”, the report said.
China is aiming to become the third nation to put a human in space after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
“The successful launch and return of Shenzhou III has laid a solid basis for the country’s future endeavor to send man to outer space,” Xinhua quoted leading space officials as saying.
On-board life support systems made the capsule “technically suitable for astronauts”, they said.
With the success of Shenzhou III, China could launch its first manned space flight as early as next year, with two astronauts expected to be on board the inaugural trip, Chinese space officials and other experts have said.
