Shenzhou VII: China aiming for next manned space flight in 2008

The Chinese state media has said that their next manned space flight, the third in its ambitious program is now scheduled to take place in 2008.

This is however a year later than the date previously announced by the Chinese space agency. They had earlier expressed their plans to launch this mission sometime next year.

There are no reasons given for this one-year delay. The media reports stated that Shenzhou VII mission would kick off the second phase of China’s manned space program and it would focus on relatively complex procedures, sending astronauts on space walks and having craft dock in space.

They had conducted their second manned space mission last year in October. It took two astronauts into orbit for five days and the media confirmed that there were no major glitches during the program.

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