China to host int'l seminar on manned spaceflight

JIUQUAN - China and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) will co-host an international seminar on manned spaceflight in Beijing in September, spokeswoman for China's manned space program Wu Ping revealed Monday.

The seminar aims to boost international exchanges of latest developments and following steps in manned spaceflight and promote cooperation in the area, Wu told a press conference ahead of the launch of the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft.

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She said since China's first launch of the manned space program, the country has been actively cooperating with other countries in areas such as aerospace medicine, space scientific experiments, training and selections of astronauts.

"We will be more open in carrying out extensive exchanges and cooperation with other countries during the construction and operation stages of the space lab and manned space station, and share our achievements with them, especially with developing nations," she said,while stressing China's commitment to making more contribution to global efforts to peacefully explore outer space.

China will launch the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft at 5:38 p.m. Beijing Time Tuesday, carrying three astronauts to dock with the module Tiangong-1, a year after its first successful manned docking last June. This marked a significant step for China to achieve its goal of building a space station by 2020.