By Maggie Lu

　　EVERY time Zhou Xudong got onto the special train from Beijing or Shanghai that took aerospace scientists and parts of spacecraft to Jiuquan, in northwestern China's Gansu Province, or other space bases, he was witnessing a new step forward in Chinese aerospace development.

　　Yet his latest journey was uniquely significant, because he was on his way to see his colleagues send China's first manned spacecraftsintosorbit.

　　Having been involved in the development and launch of the spacecraft Shenzhou I and Shenzhou II (meaning "Divine Vessel"), Zhou is now preparing for the launch of Shenzhou VI, expected in six months time, carrying more than one astronaut.

　　Zhou, vice director of the Science Research Department of the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology, began his aerospace career 15 years ago, after graduating from the Nanjing Aerospace University.

　　Although he was not responsible for Shenzhou V, he said he had been certain "it will be a success".

　　"We have undertaken numerous researches and experiments leading up to this - the first four successful launches and returns of Shenzhou spacecraft were all tests for this flight," he said when being interviewed days before the launch.

　　The spacecraft was designed and produced by the space technology research institutes in Beijing and Shanghai.

　　The two teams produced the parts in factories in the vicinity of both cities and all the components were then transported to Jiuquan to be assembled.

　　The carrier rocket for this flight will be the Changzheng II F (or Long March II F), a new type of rocket.

　　The spacecraft has three stages - the booster, orbiter and command module.

　　The first stage, powering the spacecraftsintosorbit, will break away and burn up in space, while the other stages contain facilities in which the astronauts can live and work in space.

　　During this flight, however, the astronaut will remain in the command module. The orbiter will separate and become a satellite after the command module returns to earth.

　　It may take 30 minutes for the spacecraft to descend to land after leaving its orbit.

　　Difficult explorations

　　Zhou is one among the thousands of people who are engaged in Chinese aerospace development, His own career over the past 10 years has coincided with the period during which the country has developed its capabilities for manned space flights.

　　China decided to realize the objective of manned space flight in 1992.

　　Zhou said one important decision was for China to develop the requisite aerospace technology on its own.

　　The decision originated from the challenges coming in succession over the past decades.

　　China began its aerospace researches in the late 1950s, aided by the former Soviet Union. Yet shortly afterwards all the Russian scientists were called back home because of political divergences between the two countries in the 1960s.

　　Chinese scientists had to embark on their own researchsintosaerospace technologies and theories and train their own professionals, without outside help.

　　"We found that no country will pass on real aerospace achievements to you, so we had to work on our own, independently," Zhou said.

　　The US, together with Russia and another 13 Western countries formed an exclusive "Space Club". China was not a member.

　　"All these factors made us decide to try by ourselves," he said.

　　Until 1999, when the first Chinese spacecraft, Shenzhou 1, succeeded, Chinese scientists had spent seven years in meticulous space technology research.

　　"We learnt from the experiences of the former Soviet Union and the United States," he said. "But we made a more sophisticated spacecraft in less time, with less money and fewer people involved."

　　As an example he noted that the US spent US billion, employing 100,000 people in 10,000 working units over 10 years to build its first space shuttle in 1981, while China has spent "much less" in all respects, although he couldn't give specific statistics.

　　Since Chinese spacecraft were developed based on the industrial and aerospace technologies of the 1990s, they are more advanced than those of Russia and the US, which were based on the technologies of the 1960s or '70s.

　　Zhou said the US, Russia and the "second-level" space powers, such as Japan and India, felt worried and threatened by China's achievements.

　　"Every time we launched a satellite or spacecraft, dozens of American spy satellites were hovering above the launch base," he said.

　　Zhou clarified the rumour that China will put astronauts onto the moon 20 years from now.

　　"It's nonsense and impossible for this country by then. Even the Soviet Union failed to do it. But certainly, China will land space probes on it," he said.

　　China has had a three-step aerospace development plan that is expected to be fully accomplished over the next 10 to 20 years.

　　The first step is manned space flight. The second is to set up a short-term space lab. Finally, the country aims to build a long-term space station.