Photo Gallery China's Celestial Ambitions
The Chinese Communist Party wants to catapult China to the world-class level of space technology. Here China's Long March CZ-2 F rocket, carrying the manned spacecraft Shenzhou V, blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern province of Gansu October 15, 2003.
China became the third country in history to put a human into space. The picture shows Yang Liwei, the Chinese astronaut who travelled onboard the Shenzhou V in 2003.
Yang Liwei, astronaut in China's first manned spaceflight, enters the spacecraft Shenzhou V at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in October 2003.
A Chinese resident reads a special newspaper edition heralding the launch of China's first manned space flight in Shanghai.
China's future space ambitions also include a bizarre aural spectacle: Its lunar orbiters will transmit 150 pop songs back to earth, including a Chinese tune titled "We Love our China." Here a man watches the 2003 launch.
Jiuquan Space Launch Center in China is seen in this satellite image taken in October 2003.
Chinese astronauts Fei Junlong (l) and Nie Haisheng wave as they walk to the launch tower at the Jiuquan Space Launch Center in northwest Gansu Province. China successfully launched its second manned space flight, Shenzhou VI, in October 2005.
China, which recently surpassed Germany in its number of registered patents, has drawn up an ambitious five-year plan to catapult itself to world-class heights in science and technology.
