China astronauts blast confidently into space
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-12 19:54

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

In the Chinese capital, President Hu Jintao and Vice President Zeng Qinghong watched the lift-off at the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center.

China is determined to become a serious space player and set up a National Astronaut Training Center in Beijing this week. Xinhua said it was only the third such facility in the world.

"We should never slacken our efforts to explore the mystery of space," said Nie, described by Xinhua as a "cowboy"

State television carried blanket coverage of the launch, using a slightly modified version of the theme from the 1970s U.S. cult sci-fi series "Battlestar Galactica" as background music.

"We're very happy and not especially nervous, because we have faith in science," Fei's bemused-looking father told China Central Television in thickly accented Mandarin as firecrackers exploded nearby at the family's home in eastern Jiangsu province.

China's first man in space was Colonel Yang Liwei, who orbited Earth 14 times aboard Shenzhou V craft in October 2003.

Underlining how far China has to catch up space powers Russia and the United States, a Russian capsule carrying a cosmonaut, a U.S. astronaut and an American space tourist returned to Earth on Tuesday from the International Space Station.

The former Soviet Union and the United States put their first men into space in 1961.

China has had a long -- if not always successful -- relationship with space travel.

The country invented gunpowder and legend has it that a Ming dynasty (1368-1644) official named Wan Hu attempted the world's first space launch. He strapped himself to a chair with kites in each hand as 47 servants lit 47 gunpowder-packed bamboo tubes tied to the seat.

When the smoke had cleared, Wan was apparently found to have been obliterated.

But the dream survived.